Meanings
- pluralplural of short
- pluralplural onlyA garment worn over the pelvic area ending above the knees, not covering the entire length of the leg, designed for warm weather or for sports.
Jessica hated covering her legs, so she usually wore shorts.
1 more example
In 1925, boxer shorts were unleashed on the world: loose-fitting underwear for men, featuring an elastic waistband inspired by the shorts worn by boxers. It was underwear for the inner pugilist.
2018 August 9, Alan Burdick, “Science has Resolved the Question of Boxers vs. Briefs”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2020 - datedpluralplural onlyUnderpants.
After a scare like that, you might need to change your shorts.
1 more example
And always, when the food arrives, send something back. It's considered very sophisticated. But make sure you use colorful language. Tell him, "Waiter, this veal tastes like the inside front panel of Ferdinand Magellan's shorts. And I'm referring to the first voyage."
2015, George Carlin, 3 X Carlin: An Orgy of George Including Brain Droppings, Napalm and Silly Putty, and When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? - pluralplural onlyuncountableRemnants, clippings, trimmings of production processes.
- pluralplural onlyThe part of milled grain sifted out which is next finer than the bran; pollard.
[…]the first remove above bran is shorts ; the next above that is sharps
1847, James Orchard Halliwell, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, volume II, →OCLC, page 822 - pluralplural onlyShort, inferior hemp.
- indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of short
Synonyms & antonyms
noun(used in the plural) trousers that end at or above the knee
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-der.?
- Proto-Germanic*skertaną
- Proto-Germanic*skurtaz
- Proto-West Germanic*skurt
- Old Englishsċort
- Middle Englishschort
- Englishshort
- Englishshorts
Translations
Afrikaans kortbroek
- kortbroekleg garment
Arabic شُورْت
- شُورْت (šūrt)leg garment
Bengali শর্টস
- শর্টস (śôrṭś)leg garment
Bulgarian шо́рти, гаще́та
- шо́рти (šórti)leg garment
- гаще́та (gaštéta)leg garment
Catalan pantalons curts
- pantalons curtsleg garment
Chinese Cantonese 短褲 /短裤
- 短褲 /短裤 (dyun² fu³)leg garment
Chinese Mandarin 短褲 /短裤
- 短褲 /短裤 (duǎnkù)leg garment
Czech šortky
- šortkyleg garment
Danish shorts
- shortsleg garment
Dutch korte broek, short
- korte broekleg garment
- shortleg garment
Esperanto ŝorto
- ŝortoleg garment
Estonian šortsid
- šortsidleg garment
Finnish shortsit, sortsit
- shortsitleg garment
- sortsitleg garment
French short
- shortleg garment
German Shorts, kurze Hose
- Shortsleg garment
- kurze Hoseleg garment
Greek σορτς, σορτσάκι
- σορτς (sorts)leg garment
- σορτσάκι (sortsáki)leg garment
- παντελονάκι (pantelonáki)leg garment
Hebrew מִכְנָסַיִים קְצָרִים
- מִכְנָסַיִים קְצָרִיםleg garment
Hindi शॉर्ट्स, हाफ़ पैंट
- शॉर्ट्स (śŏrṭs)leg garment
- हाफ़ पैंट (hāf paiṇṭ)leg garment
- जाँघिया (jāṅghiyā)leg garment
- जांघिया (jāṅghiyā)leg garment
- चड्डी (caḍḍī)leg garment
- कच्छा (kacchā)leg garment
- कच्छ (kacch)leg garment
Hungarian rövidnadrág, sort
- rövidnadrágleg garment
- sortleg garment
Icelandic stuttbuxur
- stuttbuxurleg garment
Indonesian celana pendek
- celana pendekleg garment
Irish bríste sciota, brístín
- bríste sciotaleg garment
- brístínleg garment
Italian calzoncini
- calzoncinileg garment
Japanese ショートパンツ, ショーツ
- ショートパンツ (shōto pantsu)leg garment
- ショーツ (shōtsu)leg garment
Korean 반바지, 숏팬츠
- 반바지 (banbaji)leg garment
- 숏팬츠 (syotpaencheu)leg garment
- 쇼츠 (syocheu)leg garment
Latvian šorti
- šortileg garment
Lithuanian šortai
- šortaileg garment
Malay seluar pendek
- seluar pendekleg garment
Māori tarau poto
- tarau potoleg garment
Norwegian Bokmål kortbukse, shorts
- kortbukseleg garment
- shortsleg garment
Polish szorty
- szortyleg garment
Portuguese calção, short
- calçãoleg garment
- shortleg garment
- calçõesleg garment
- bermudaleg garment
Romanian pantaloni scurți, șort
- pantaloni scurțileg garment
- șortleg garment
Russian шо́рты
- шо́рты (šórty)leg garment
Scottish Gaelic briogais ghoirid
- briogais ghoiridleg garment
Slovak šortky
- šortkyleg garment
Spanish pantalón corto, pantaloneta
- pantalón cortoleg garment
- pantalonetaleg garment
- shortleg garment
- pantaloncitoleg garment
Swahili kaptula
- kaptulaleg garment
Swedish shorts, kortbyxor
- shortsleg garment
- kortbyxorleg garment
Tagalog salawal
- salawalleg garment
Tamil டிராயர்
- டிராயர் (ṭirāyar)leg garment
Thai กางเกงขาสั้น
- กางเกงขาสั้น (gaang-geeng-kǎa-sân)leg garment
Turkish şort
- şortleg garment
Ukrainian шо́рти
- шо́рти (šórty)leg garment
Vietnamese soóc, quần đùi
- soócleg garment
- quần đùileg garment
- quần cộcleg garment
- quần ngắnleg garment
Welsh siorts
- siortsleg garment
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shorts
All rhymes →Cite this entry
shorts. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shorts
“shorts.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shorts. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shorts,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shorts.
Source: shorts on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.