It's the time of year when we're constantly being asked to set aside the things that divide us. However, we're talking about "pants" again this week, and there's just no getting around the pants-trousers divide.
"Trousers" is more frequently found in British English and goes back to the late 1600s. It was an item of clothing originally worn by sailors and soldiers before becoming more widely adopted. The term was created from another term "trouse," pronounced "truce," which was borrowed from Irish and possibly influenced by French. It referred to a close-fitting garment worn in Ireland and Scotland.
As for why an "r" got slapped on the end to form "trouser," it might have something to do with "drawers." By the 1500s, "drawers" was already being used to describe underwear. Because English speakers apparently can't have enough synonyms to describe their unmentionables, "knickers" was in play by the 1880s and was a shortening of "knickerbockers." It’s possible "trousers" picked up its extra "r" as part of this naming trend.
Another part of the "trousers" story is "breeches." Dating back to Old English, "breeches" were trousers that reached the knee or just below it. They were distinct from trousers mainly because of their shorter length.
Around the 1600s, phrases like "who wears the trousers" popped up to refer to women who were seen as dominant or in control. By the 18th and 19th centuries, this expression appeared as "who wears the breeches," which eventually evolved into the modern "who wears the pants."
Of course, this is also where we get the expression "too big for one's breeches," though people today are likely more familiar with the variant "too big for one's britches."
For more on "trousers" and "pants," including a look at the phrase "all mouth and trousers," listen to the audio above.
