Meanings
plural waistcoats
- An ornamental garment worn under a doublet.
- UKA sleeveless, collarless garment worn over a shirt and under a suit jacket.
In the Victorian Era, exposing your shirtfront in public was considered improper, as shirts were viewed as undergarments. Waistcoats concealed this and helped [to] tame oversized, billowy shirts.
2025 September 12, Jack Collins, “Why Did Men Stop Wearing Three-Piece Suits?”, in Gentleman's Gazette1 more example
Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLCSynonyms: vest
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sleeveless, collarless garment worn over a shirt and under a suit jacket.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From waist + coat. Compare Yola wauscoat, wazcoote.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic صُدْرِيّة, صِدَار
- صُدْرِيّة (ṣudriyya)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- صِدَار (ṣidār)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Bulgarian жиле́тка, еле́к
- жиле́тка (žilétka)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- еле́к (elék)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- еле́че (eléče)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Catalan armilla
- armillaa sleeveless, collarless garment
Chinese Mandarin 坎肩, 背心
- 坎肩 (kǎnjiān)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- 背心 (bèixīn)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Czech vesta
- vestaa sleeveless, collarless garment
Danish vest
- vesta sleeveless, collarless garment
Dutch vest
- vesta sleeveless, collarless garment
Estonian vest
- vesta sleeveless, collarless garment
Finnish liivi
- liivia sleeveless, collarless garment
French gilet
- gileta sleeveless, collarless garment
German Weste, Gilet
- Westea sleeveless, collarless garment
- Gileta sleeveless, collarless garment
Greek γιλέκο, γελέκο
- γιλέκο (giléko)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- γελέκο (geléko)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Hebrew וֵסְט
- וֵסְט (vest)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Hindi वास्कट
- वास्कट (vāskaṭ)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Hungarian mellény
- mellénya sleeveless, collarless garment
Icelandic vesti
- vestia sleeveless, collarless garment
Indonesian rompi
- rompia sleeveless, collarless garment
Irish vástchóta, bástcóta
- vástchótaa sleeveless, collarless garment
- bástcótaa sleeveless, collarless garment
- veista sleeveless, collarless garment
Italian panciotto, gilè
- panciottoa sleeveless, collarless garment
- gilèa sleeveless, collarless garment
- corpettoa sleeveless, collarless garment
Japanese チョッキ, ベスト
- チョッキ (chokki)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- ベスト (besuto)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- ウェストコート (wesutokōto)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- ウェスクット (wesuo)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Korean 조끼
- 조끼 (jokki)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Latvian veste
- vestea sleeveless, collarless garment
Lithuanian liemenė
- liemenėa sleeveless, collarless garment
Malay rompi, weskot
- rompia sleeveless, collarless garment
- weskota sleeveless, collarless garment
Māori wēkete, wetikote
- wēketea sleeveless, collarless garment
- wetikotea sleeveless, collarless garment
Norwegian Bokmål vest
- vesta sleeveless, collarless garment
Persian ژیله, جلیقه
- ژیله (žile)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- جلیقه (jeliqe)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Polish kamizelka, bezrękawnik
- kamizelkaa sleeveless, collarless garment
- bezrękawnika sleeveless, collarless garment
Portuguese colete
- coletea sleeveless, collarless garment
Punjabi ਵਾਸਕਟ
- ਵਾਸਕਟ (vāskaṭ)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Romanian vestă, jiletcă
- vestăa sleeveless, collarless garment
- jiletcăa sleeveless, collarless garment
Russian жиле́т, безрука́вка
- жиле́т (žilét)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- безрука́вка (bezrukávka)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- жиле́тка (žilétka)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Scottish Gaelic peitean
- peiteana sleeveless, collarless garment
Slovak vesta
- vestaa sleeveless, collarless garment
Spanish chaleco, chalequillo
- chalecoa sleeveless, collarless garment
- chalequilloa sleeveless, collarless garment
Swahili kizibao
- kizibaoa sleeveless, collarless garment
Swedish väst
- västa sleeveless, collarless garment
Turkish yelek
- yeleka sleeveless, collarless garment
Ukrainian жиле́т, жиле́тка
- жиле́т (žylét)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- жиле́тка (žylétka)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- безрука́вка (bezrukávka)a sleeveless, collarless garment
- камізе́лька (kamizélʹka)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Vietnamese áo gi-lê, gi-lê
- áo gi-lêa sleeveless, collarless garment
- gi-lêa sleeveless, collarless garment
Welsh gwasgod, gwasgodau
- gwasgoda sleeveless, collarless garment
- gwasgodaua sleeveless, collarless garment
Yiddish קאַמזויל
- קאַמזויל (kamzoyl)a sleeveless, collarless garment
Cite this entry
waistcoat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waistcoat
“waistcoat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waistcoat. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “waistcoat,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/waistcoat.
Source: waistcoat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.