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Origin and history of pants

pants(n.)

"trousers, drawers," 1840, see pantaloons. The word was limited to vulgar and commercial use at first.

I leave the broadcloth,—coats and all the rest,—

The dangerous waistcoat, called by cockneys "vest,"

The things named "pants" in certain documents,

A word not made for gentlemen, but "gents";

[Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Urania: A Rhymed Lesson," 1846]

Colloquial singular pant is attested from 1893. To wear the pants "be the dominant member of a household" is by 1931, also with trousers. To do something by the seat of (one's) pants "by human instinct" is from 1942, originally of pilots, perhaps with some notion of being able to sense the condition and situation of the plane by engine vibrations, etc. To be caught with (one's) pants down "discovered in an embarrassing condition" is from 1932.

also from 1840

Entries linking to pants

pantaloons(n.)

1660s, kind of tights-like garment for men (consisting of breeches and stockings in one; originally a French fashion and execrated as such by late 17c. English writers), associated with Pantaloun, Pantaloon (1580s), the silly old man character in Italian comedy, who wore spectacles, slippers, and tight trousers over his skinny legs. His name is from Italian Pantalone, which is of Greek origin and means "all-compassionate" (Littré). It's sometimes said he was named for Saint Pantaleone but others doubt this; Greek derived names were fashionable for characters in the early Italian comedies, and it may have been chosen simply for being a Greek name.

By 1798 the word was revived in reference to tight long trousers buttoned or tied below the knee (replacing knee-breeches), worn by men of fashion. These were gradually replaced by modern trousers, but the name persisted. Pants is a shortened form attested by 1840. The diminutive pantalettes for "loose drawers with frills at the bottoms of the legs, worn by young girls," is by 1834.

trousers(n.)

"garment for men, covering the lower body and each leg separately," 1610s, trossers, earlier trouzes (1580s), extended from trouse (1570s), with plural ending typical of things in pairs (tweezers), from Gaelic or Middle Irish triubhas "close-fitting shorts," a word of uncertain origin.

In early recorded use the garment was regarded as Celtic: "A jellous wife was like an Irish trouze, alwayes close to a mans tayle" [1630]. The unexplained, unetymological second -r- is perhaps by influence of drawers or other words in pairs ending in -ers. Also perhaps reinforced by truss (v.) in the sense "to dress." Related: Troused "wearing trousers" (1789).