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The Macmillan dictionary says the word trousers is "mainly" British, which implies that it's not entirely British and Americans also use it. I have read a few novels in which American writers use the word trousers not pants--the most recent being Alex Kava's "Stranded". Do many Americans wear trousers instead of pants? Is it a regional variation or just a less common synonym that every American sometimes uses? Or might it be a particular type of pants that are called in this way?

Peter
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    I don't have enough objective evidence at the moment for an answer, but from my person experience as an American, "trousers" is used to refer to dressier pants (the kind you'd wear to the office, for example) while "pants" is a catch-all term that includes trousers, jeans, sweatpants, etc. – Nicole Jul 16 '17 at 05:15
  • Related: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10246/does-pants-more-commonly-mean-trousers-or-underpants –  Jul 16 '17 at 06:00
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    @Nicole: Agreed. I don't use trousers myself -- I say slacks -- but I understand it as synonymous (in the US). – ruakh Jul 16 '17 at 06:50
  • https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=trowsers%2Cpants%2C+slacks&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctrowsers%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cpants%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cslacks%3B%2Cc0 – Hot Licks Jul 16 '17 at 12:17
  • @1006a - Ah, yes! Tried to do it quickly, while I was running out the door. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=trousers%2Cpants%2Cslacks&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctrousers%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cpants%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cslacks%3B%2Cc0 – Hot Licks Jul 16 '17 at 18:15

2 Answers2

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In the US you will almost never hear, "trousers", if at all, outside of certain written texts (though anyone will understand what you mean). It's just exceedingly rare to hear a native US citizen say something like, "Wow, it's so cold out, I'm glad I wore trousers today.". Extremely rare.

US: pants = vernacular for a garment covering your entire legs (such as jeans, slacks, sweats, etc... which are just more specific forms of the same thing).

UK: trousers = vernacular for a garment covering your entire legs (such as jeans, slacks, sweats, etc... which are just more specific forms of the same thing).

US AND UK: underpants/underwear = the garments you wear underneath your main garments (such as pants or trousers or shorts) to cover your private areas and keep things clean.

Source:

Myself. I'm a US citizen from central Texas in my 40s. This is based on 40 years of experience listening to people, reading, and watching TV. I have rarely heard this usage outside academic speeches, papers, and some other forms of writing (i.e. fictional works). In hearing parents, friends, co-workers, an ex-wife, my children, their friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, I have rarely ever heard the word "trousers" in everyday vernacular.

It is somewhat anecdotal, I'll give you that much, but it's also so obvious that I would venture more than 99% of native Americans would not use trousers in everyday speech. The word pants is without question the most dominant form of describing a garment that covers one's legs in the US (or the specific forms of pants: slacks, jeans, sweats, etc.). This does not mean it's never used, or that Americans don't know what trousers are; that would be an absurd notion and should not be the idea gathered from this answer.

Kace36
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    Whereas in the UK "Wow, it's so cold I'm glad I wore pants today" may not be advisable to announce. – Andrew Leach Jul 16 '17 at 09:28
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    -1 no references to back up the statements – Arm the good guys in America Jul 16 '17 at 14:26
  • @Clare Aw, come on. You're not going to be that punctilious toward me are you? :( I'm a native US citizen in my 40's. I suppose I can find some links but this is basically a matter of opinion. I answered b/c the OP wanted to know what was common in the US. Do some people here use, "trousers"? Well, of course. I know what trousers are. So do all Americans; but virtually none of them use it in speech. It's somewhat opinionated I'll give you that. In that case why not delete all of these as opinion (English is English). They wanted to know what was colloquial based on region. – Kace36 Jul 16 '17 at 20:31
  • @AndrewLeach Yes that would be funny. LOL. A little like my blunder the other day of saying "Bare with me" (let's get naked everyone!) :D – Kace36 Jul 16 '17 at 20:32
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    My upvote because you don't need any references to support your assertion, native speakers know this to be a fact. – Mari-Lou A Jul 17 '17 at 18:51
  • It still makes me wonder. If nobody uses the word in every day speech, why do some American writers use "trousers" in their books? Is the first comment made by Nicole the explanation? – Peter Jul 18 '17 at 05:19
  • @Peter I can totally see why you would wonder, but I think it's just because writers are often looking for what most Americans would consider a more descriptive word (very similar to what Nicole mentioned, yes). I can assure you though as someone in their 40's who's lived in the US my whole life it's not something you hear much. You will almost never hear (and I do mean almost never) hear someone say, "Go get your trousers on right now young man, we were supposed to leave 10 minutes ago!". We use it much more in descriptive writing, essays, etc...; but not colloquially. – Kace36 Jul 18 '17 at 07:19
  • @Kace I don't doubt that Americans don't use "trousers" in every day speech. I just wanted to know why the writers use it. – Peter Jul 18 '17 at 08:05
  • @Peter Ah. No problem. Yep I would imagine what Nicole said and the fact that they are trying to use different words to be more descriptive; if there is in fact a higher correlation of American writers that use the word. I simply don't know without checking but I believe you. It would be my guess anyway. – Kace36 Jul 18 '17 at 08:13
  • As a European immigrant in the US, I sometimes use a British English word without knowing this. "trousers" was one of those words. US native speakers, at least here in Texas, were confused when I used it the first time. When my wife used word "trousers" in a class of ~15 people, nobody except the English teacher understood her. Anecdotal conclusion of mine: most Texans don't understand the word "trousers". BONUS: Here's a funny statement of my immigrant friend: "I don't like this dress, I look like a lorry [AmE: truck] in it". A native speaker responded in confusion: "Erm... Who's Lorry?". – Nowaker Jul 19 '18 at 15:48
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As a small piece of anecdotal evidence, in the American TV show 'The Wire' (season 3 episode 1, 2004), the character 'Bubbles', a heroin addict in Baltimore, is complaining that he was forced to give up his pants after damaging a drug dealer's car. He says: "[I] lost my trousers man, my fucking trousers".
Perhaps this suggests that the word is used regionally- there certainly is no suggestion that he is referring to formal wear.

Will G
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