breeches
/ˈbɹiː.t͡ʃɪz/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.67 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "And how then was the Devil drest? / Oh! he was in his Sunday's best: / His jacket was red and his breeches were blue, / And there was a hole where the tail came through."
- ""In the coach in which I rode, there was a vacant seat till our arrival in Birmingham. Leaving Birmingham I found it filled with a fat Englishman, in drab breeches and gaiter boots, the finest specimen of a thorough John Bull that I had seen—weight about sixteen stone. He wore two top coats, a broad brimmed hat, and an enormous red travelling shawl, behind the folds of which his portly double chin was entirely hidden."
- "But now there's only old Manning, and young William, and a new-fashioned woman gardener in breeches and such-like."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- Proto-Germanic *brōks Proto-West Germanic *brōk Old English brōc Old English brēċ Middle English brek Middle English breches English breeches From Middle English breches, brechen pl, a variant of Middle English breche, brech, brek (“breeches”), from Old English brēċ (“underpants”), the plural of brōc (“legging, buttocks”), from Proto-West Germanic *brōk, from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“crotch, legging, trousers”). Akin to West Frisian broek (“leggings, over-trousers”), Dutch broek (“pair of trousers, underpants, long-johns”), obsolete German Bruch (“pair of hose, leggings, pants trousers”), Old Norse brók (“breeches”) (whence Danish brog); compare Latin brācae ( > French braies, Spanish bragas) which is immediately of Celtic origin, yet ultimately borrowed from the same Proto-Germanic source above. Compare brail.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: breches, brechen, breche, brēċ, *brōk, *brōks