underwear

I know undies is the underwear for the girls' lower part of the body.
Then how about the one for boys and men?
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Do we call undies for little girls only?
How about the one for big girls?
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What do we call the underwear to cover the upper part of the body both for boys and men?
What do we call the underwear to cover the upper part of the body both for girls and women?
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Thank.

Ju

not a teacher

underpants, panties, knickers, briefs etc.
Sorry, I don't know how to distinguish them by what gender uses them.

Ju said:

I know undies is the underwear for the girls' lower part of the body.
'Undies', a rather twee contraction of 'underwear', can refer to any item of underwear. It is used almost exclusively by women for women's underwear.
Then how about the one for boys and men?
In BrE we traditionally referrred to what we wear under trousers as 'pants', short for 'underpants'. Now we often specify the type,'y-fronts', 'boxers', etc.

What do we call the underwear to cover the upper part of the body both for boys and men? It's a 'vest' in BrE.

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I'll leave the questions about the naming of women's underwear to someone more knowledgeable than I.

How about "singlet" for the upper body? I used to buy singlets in New Zealand, and they were sleeveless undershirts (women's underwear).

A singlet is indeed a sleeveless vest for men. I didn't know that women used the same word.

ps. a slip is a female garment worn under a skirt in BrE. Although the name is beginnning to appear on the packaging of such items of underwear in Britain, we don't use it in talking about them.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

underwear for the upper part of the body for boys : undervest
underwear for the lower part of the body for boys : brief, boxer short, boxer

underwear for the upper part of the body for girls : undervest
underwear for the lower part of the body for girls : panties

Do I need to put "s" behind 'brief, boxer short, boxer'?

Thank you.

Ju said:

underwear for the upper part of the body for boys : undervest.....It's just 'vest' in BrE.
underwear for the lower part of the body for boys : briefs, boxer shorts, boxers

underwear for the upper part of the body for girls : undervest...I don't think that many females, except very young girls, wear (under)vests these days.
underwear for the lower part of the body for girls : panties ...In BrE it's normally 'pants', sometimes 'knickers'.

Do I need to put "s" [STRIKE]behind[/STRIKE] on 'brief, boxer short, boxer'? Yes

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5

I appear to be the female team all on my own here so:

Little girls wear a vest and pants/knickers, collectively called underwear.
Once they have developed breasts, older girls wear a bra (brassiere).
From that point on, the underwear for the lower part of a girl's body can be called several things depending on personal choice and sometimes on the style of undwrwear - pants, panties, knickers, thongs, briefs, undies.

With "undies", even though it's a collective term, if a woman says "I'm not wearing any undies", she is referring to her lack of knickers. The listener wouldn't consider her to be talking about a bra.

Perhaps it would be useful to go to an online store, such as JC Penny, Sears, or Target, and look around at the pictures for the underwear section and see how they are described.

Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more