underclothing

U1N1D2E1R1C3L1O1T1H4I1N1G2

noun

clothing worn next to the skin; underwear.

Similar
underwearunderclothes
OriginEnglish clothing ← Middle English under- ← Old English under- →
RareScrabble 20
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

noununderclothing (countable and uncountable, plural underclothings)

plural underclothings

  1. countableuncountableclothing worn next to the skin; underwear.

    She came in now, but to the closet; from it she took a simple skirt and blouse. Picking up her underclothing she departed, obviously to dress somewhere else.

    1964, Philip K. Dick, “NINE”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 112

Synonyms & antonyms

nounundergarment worn next to the skin and under the outer garments

Similar
underwearunderclothes
Broader
undergarmentunmentionable
Also see
skivviesunderclothesundergarbunderwear

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁entér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂én
  4. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-?
  5. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰí
  6. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰér
  7. Proto-Germanic*under
  8. Proto-West Germanic*undar
  9. Old Englishunder-
  10. Middle Englishunder-
  11. Englishunder-
  12. Englishclothing
  13. Englishunderclothing

From under- + clothing.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

underclothing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underclothing

MLA

“underclothing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underclothing. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “underclothing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underclothing.

Source: underclothing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.