Dictionary Definition
shirt n : a garment worn on the upper half of the
body v : put a shirt on
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
Old English scyrte, from Germanic *skurtijon. Cognate with Dutch schort, German Schürze ‘apron’. Skirt is a parallel formation from Old Norse; compare also short, from the same ultimate source.Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -ɜː(r)t
Noun
Derived terms
Translations
article of clothing
- Amuzgo: kotôⁿ
- Arabic: (qamīṣ)
- Bosnian: košulja, majica
- Chinese: 襯衣, 衬衣 (chènyī)
- Crimean Tatar: kölmek (northern dialect also kölekse)
- Croatian: košulja, majica
- Czech: košile
- Dutch: hemd, overhemd, shirt
- Esperanto: ĉemizo
- Finnish: paita
- French: chemise
- German: Hemd
- Greek: πουκάμισο, υποκάμισο
- Hindi: क़मीज़ (qamīz)
- Hungarian: ing
- Italian: camicia
- Japanese: シャツ (shatsu)
- Jèrriais: c'mînse
- Kinyarwanda: ijipo
- Korean: 셔츠 (syeochu), 와이 셔츠 (wai syeochu), 남방 (nambang)
- Kurdish:
- Polish: koszula
- Portuguese: camisa
- Romanian: cămaşă
- Russian: рубашка
- Scots: sark
- Scottish Gaelic: lèine
- Serbian:
- Slovak: košeľa
- Slovene: srajca, majica
- Spanish: camisa
- Swedish: skjorta
- Tagalog: kamiseta
- Tamil: சட்டை (sattai)
- Telugu: చొక్కా (cokkaa)
- Urdu: (qamīz), (qamīs)
Extensive Definition
In American
English, shirt can refer to almost any upper-body garment other
than coats and
bras (the term "top"
is sometimes used in ladieswear). In British
English, a shirt is more specifically a garment with a collar,
cuffs, and a full vertical
opening with buttons; what is known in American English as a
dress
shirt.
-
- Camp shirt — a loose, straight-cut, short sleeved shirt or blouse with a simple placket front-opening and a "camp collar."
- guayabera — an embroidered dress shirt with four pockets.
- T-shirt
— a casual shirt without a collar or buttons, usually
short-sleeved. It is a common shirt for informal events.
- Ringer T-shirt — tee with a separate piece of fabric sewn on as the collar and sleeve hems.
- halfshirt
— a high-hemmed t-shirt.
- A-shirt or construction shirt os singlet (in British English) — essentially a sleeveless t-shirt with large armholes and a large neck hole, often worn by labourers or athletes for increased movability. Sometimes called a "wife beater" when worn without a covering layer.
- camisole — woman's undershirt with narrow straps, or a similar garment worn alone (often with bra). Also referred to as a cami, shelf top, spaghetti straps or strappy top.
- tennis
shirt, golf shirt, or
polo
shirt — a v-neck shirt with a full collar; opening
often closed with buttons or zipper running partway down the front.
Short or long sleeve. Sometimes embroidered with club or designer
insignia. Often worn with a sweater
vest.
- rugby shirt — typically a rugged long-sleeved polo shirt, of thick cotton or wool.
- henley shirt — a collarless polo shirt.
- baseball shirt — usually distinguished by a three quarters sleeve, team insignia, and flat waistseam.
- sweatshirt — long-sleeved athletic shirt of heavier material, with or without hood.
- tunic — primitive shirt, distinguished by two-piece construction. Initially a men's garment, is normally seen in modern times being worn by women.
- shirtwaist — a dress which actually is really a shirt.
- nightshirt — often oversized, ruined or inexpensive light cloth undergarment shirt for sleeping.
- sleeveless
shirt — A shirt with no sleeves. Contains only neck,
bottom hem, body, and sometimes shoulders depending on type.
- halter top — a shoulderless, sleeveless garment for women. It is mechanically analogous to an apron with a string around the back of the neck and across the lower back holding it in place.
- tube top (in American English) or boob tube (in British English) — a shoulderless, sleeveless "tube" that wraps the torso (not reaching higher than the armpit, staying in place by elasticity or by a single strap that is attached to the front of the tube.
Tops that would generally not be considered
shirts:
Parts of shirts
Many terms are used to describe and differentiate types of shirts (and upper-body garments in general) and their construction. The smallest differences may have significance to a cultural or occupational group. Recently, (late 20th century) it has become common to use tops to carry messages or advertising. Many of these distinctions apply to other upper-body garments, such as coats and sweaters.Shoulders and arms
- with no covering of the shoulders or arms — a tube top (not reaching higher than the armpits, staying in place by elasticity)
- with only shoulder straps, such as spaghetti straps
- covering the shoulders, but without sleeves
- with short sleeves, varying from cap sleeves (not extending below the armpit) to half sleeves (elbow length)
- with three-quarter-length sleeves (reaching to a point between the elbow and the wrist)
- with long sleeves, may further be distinguished by the cuffs:
- no buttons — a closed placket cuff
- buttons (or analogous fasteners such as snaps) — single or multiple. A single button or pair aligned parallel with the cuff hem is considered a button cuff. Multiple buttons aligned perpendicular to the cuff hem, or parallel to the placket constitute a barrel cuff.
- buttonholes designed for cufflinks
- a French cuff, where the end half of the cuff is folded over the cuff itself and fastened with a cufflink. This type of cuff has four buttons and a short placket.
- more formally, a link cuff — fastened like a French cuff, except is not folded over, but instead hemmed, at the edge of the sleeve.
- asymmetrical designs, such as one-shoulder, one-sleeve or with sleeves of different lengths.
Lower hem of shirt
- leaving the belly button area bare (much more common for women than for men). See halfshirt.
- hanging to the waist
- covering the crotch
- covering part of the legs (essentially this is a dress; however, a piece of clothing is perceived either as a shirt (worn with trousers) or as a dress (in Western culture mainly worn by women)).
- going to the floor (as a pajama shirt)
Body
- vertical opening on the front side, all the way down, with buttons or zipper. When fastened with buttons, this opening is often called the placket front.
- similar opening, but in back.
- left and right front side not separable, put on over the head;
with regard to upper front side opening:
- V-shaped permanent opening on the top of the front side
- no opening at the upper front side
- vertical opening on the upper front side with buttons or zipper
- men's shirts are often buttoned on the right whereas women's are often buttoned on the left.
Neck
- with polo-neck
- with v-neck but no collar
- with plunging neck
- with open or tassel neck
- with collar
- windsor collar or spread collar — a dressier collar designed with a wide distance between points (the spread) to accommodate the windsor knot tie. The standard business collar.
- tab collar — a collar with two small fabric tabs that fasten together behind a tie to maintain collar spread.
- wing collar — best suited for the bow tie, often only worn for very formal occasions.
- straight collar — or point collar, a version of the windsor collar that is distinguished by a narrower spread to better accommodate the four-in-hand knot, pratt knot, and the half-windsor knot. A moderate dress collar.
- button-down collar — A collar with buttons that fasten the points or tips to a shirt. The most casual of collars worn with a tie.
- band collar — essentially the lower part of a normal collar, first used as the original collar to which a separate collarpiece was attached. Rarely seen in modern fashion. Also casual.
- turtle neck collar — A collar that covers most of the throat.
- without collar
Other features
Some combinations are not applicable, of course,
e.g. a tube top cannot have a collar.
Toplessness is
the opposite of wearing a shirt of some kind, or a bikini top, etc. This is
sometimes considered a kind of nudity, especially in the case of
women.
Famous shirtmakers
In 1920s and 1930s, the fascism choose coloured shirts
for made explicit its ideology:
- Black shirts was used by italian fascio, and in Britain, Finland and Germany (SS)
- Brownshirts was used by german nazis of SA
- Blueshirts was the name of the fascist mouvement in Ireland and Canada, and the colour of spanish Falange Española, French Solidarité Française and Chinese Blue Shirts Society.
- Greenshirts was used in Hungary, Romania and Brasil
- Camisas Doradas (golden shirts) in Mexico
- Silver Shirts in the United States of America
- Red Shirts in Turkey
See also
- Phillips Van Heusen
- Cardigan
- Jersey
- Jumper
- Bare chested
- First shirt, nick-name for a First Sergeant
- Brownshirts, known from the colour of their uniform of Sturmabteilung
- Curtain
- Dishrag
- Sleeveless shirt
- Jermyn Street, home of the oldest English shirtmakers
shirt in Catalan: Camisa
shirt in Czech: Košile
shirt in Danish: Skjorte
shirt in German: Hemd
shirt in Modern Greek (1453-): Πουκάμισο
shirt in Spanish: Camisa
shirt in Esperanto: Ĉemizo
shirt in French: Chemise (vêtement)
shirt in Inuktitut: ᐃᑭᐊᖅᖠᖅ/ikiaqłiq
shirt in Italian: Camicia
shirt in Hebrew: חולצה
shirt in Lingala: Simísi
shirt in Dutch: Overhemd
shirt in Cree: ᐸᒎᔮᓐ
shirt in Japanese: シャツ
shirt in Norwegian: Skjorte
shirt in Portuguese: Camisa
shirt in Russian: Рубашка
shirt in Simple English: Shirt
shirt in Finnish: Paita
shirt in Swedish: Skjorta
shirt in Yiddish: העמד