underclothing

C2+ Topic:Clothing & Appearance

US /ˈʌndərˌkloʊðɪŋ/ UK /ˈʌndəˌkləʊðɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
clothing worn under outer garments; underwear

She packed warm underclothing for the winter trip.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · clothing worn under outer... underwear underclothesundergarmentslingerie

Opposites

outerwear

Word family

Related forms clothing cloth clothe underclothes

Etymology

From under- ('beneath') + clothing, from clothe, from Old English clāþian ('to clothe'), from clāþ ('cloth'), from Proto-Germanic *klaithaz.

under Old English clāþ Old English *klaithaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Clothing & Appearance Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# underclothing

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈʌndərˌkloʊðɪŋ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈʌndəˌkləʊðɪŋ/

## Meanings
1. clothing worn under outer garments; underwear

## Examples
- She packed warm underclothing for the winter trip.

## Synonyms
- underwear
- underclothes
- undergarments
- lingerie

## Antonyms
- outerwear

## Related Forms
- clothing
- cloth
- clothe
- underclothes

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: under
- Root: clāþ
- Root: *klaithaz

## Etymology
From under- ('beneath') + clothing, from clothe, from Old English clāþian ('to clothe'), from clāþ ('cloth'), from Proto-Germanic *klaithaz.

## AI Etymology
Underclothing comes from under- ('beneath') + clothing, from clothe, from Old English clāþian ('to clothe'), from clāþ ('cloth'), from Proto-Germanic *klaithaz. The historical chain includes Old English under, Old English clāþ, and Proto-Germanic *klaithaz. The quoted older senses, "beneath", "to clothe", and "cloth", supply the semantic anchors for underclothing. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word underclothing carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "clothing worn under outer garments; underwear". Related English forms include clothing, cloth, clothe, and underclothes. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Clothing & Appearance
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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