Meanings
- datedpluralplural onlyUnderpants, type of underwear worn in skin contact with the hip portion of the body, small enough to be worn invisibly under shorts. Typically refers to male, not female, underpants.
I have to buy more undershorts.
4 more examples
I have one clean pair of undershorts.
It being very warm, I removed all of my clothing except my undershorts and lay down to sleep.
1934, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 3, in Pirates of Venus, page 41[…] like a mouse [I] hop frantically about on my toes, trying to clear my feet of my undershorts before anybody can peek inside, where, to my chagrin, to my bafflement, to my mortification, I always discover in the bottommost seam a pale and wispy brushstroke of my shit.
1969, Philip Roth, “The Jewish Blues”, in Portnoy’s Complaint, New York: Vintage, published 1994, page 47I have been debriefed—I believe that is the current expression, though I am always tempted, when I hear it, to make sure I still have my undershorts on—by the mandarins of the External Affairs Ministry.
1989, Shashi Tharoor, “The Thirteenth Book: Passages through India”, in The Great Indian Novel, New York: Arcade, published 1993, page 268
Origin
From under- + shorts, by analogy with underpants, etc.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 四角褲 /四角裤, 內褲 /内裤
- 四角褲 /四角裤 (sìjiǎokù)underpants
- 內褲 /内裤 (nèikù)underpants
- 貼身短褲 /贴身短裤 (tiēshēn duǎnkù)underpants
Dutch onderbroek
- onderbroekunderpants
Finnish alushousut
- alushousutunderpants
German Unterhose
- Unterhoseunderpants
Polish krótkie kalesony
- krótkie kalesonyunderpants
Cite this entry
undershorts. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undershorts
“undershorts.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undershorts. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “undershorts,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undershorts.
Source: undershorts on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.