jeans

Definition

A pair of trousers made from denim cotton.

Etymology

From Gene(s) (also spelled Jean(s)), an obsolete English name for the Italian city of Genoa. Compare French Gênes. In the context of clothing, the term originally denoted a kind of coarse cotton (known more fully as Gene(s) fustian) that was associated with Genoa. It began to be used for trousers made of such cloth in the 19th century. At this point, the final -s was reanalysed as a plural ending.

Example Sentences

• "Traditionally most jeans are dyed dark blue."
• "As a general thing, they were dressed in homespun “jeans,” blue or yellow—there were no other varieties of it; all wore one suspender and sometimes two—yarn ones knitted at home,—some wore vests, but few wore coats."
• "Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food."