Meanings
plural polo shirts
- A casual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar and a small number of buttons extending a short distance below the collar (and not all the way down the front of the shirt).
[…] the necessity for yet another place at which to buy a polo shirt or a pair of flip-flops may not be apparent to the town's residents […]
2004 August 30, The New Yorker, page 38Synonyms: golf shirt, tennis shirt
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA casual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar and a small number of buttons extending a short distance below the collar (and not all the way down the front of the shirt).
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From polo + shirt; so called because they were initially modeled on the type of shirt worn from the 1920s by polo players.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin polo衫
- polo衫 (pōulōushān)casual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Czech polokošile, polotriko
- polokošilecasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- polotrikocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- polo tričkocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Danish poloskjorte
- poloskjortecasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Estonian polosärk
- polosärkcasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Finnish kauluksellinen t-paita, pikeepaita
- kauluksellinen t-paitacasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- pikeepaitacasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
French polo
- polocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
German Poloshirt, Polohemd
- Poloshirtcasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- Polohemdcasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Hungarian pólóing, teniszpóló
- pólóingcasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- teniszpólócasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Indonesian kaus polo
- kaus polocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Japanese ポロシャツ
- ポロシャツ (poroshatsu)casual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Polish koszulka polo, polo
- koszulka polocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- polocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- polówkacasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Portuguese polo
- polocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Russian по́ло
- по́ло (pólo)casual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Slovak polokošeľa
- polokošeľacasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Spanish polo, chemise
- polocasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- chemisecasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- chombacasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- polochecasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- remeracasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
- niquicasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Swedish pikétröja
- pikétröjacasual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Yiddish פּאָלאָ
- פּאָלאָ (polo)casual, usually short-sleeved, shirt with a protruding collar
Cite this entry
polo shirt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polo%20shirt
“polo shirt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polo%20shirt. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “polo shirt,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polo%20shirt.
Source: polo shirt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.