Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth stretching across both as in skirts and dresses). The word trousers is used in the UK and Ireland, but some other English-speaking countries such as Canada, South Africa, and the United States can also refer to such items of clothing as pants. Additional synonyms include slacks, strides, kegs or kex, breeches (sometimes britches / ˈ b r ɪ tʃ ɨ z /), or breeks. Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower than the knee depending on the style of the garment.

Noun

pants (plural only) Pants (England, Scotland)

1. (chiefly North America, Australian, New Zealand, South Africa) An outer garment worn by men and women that covers the body from the waist downwards, covering each leg separately, usually as far as the ankles; trousers. [from 19th c.]
2. (chiefly UK) An undergarment worn by men or women that covers the genitals and often the buttocks and the neighbouring parts of the body; underpants. [from 19th c.]
   • 1984, Martin Amis, Money, Vintage 2005, p. 183:

     As she bent over the intercom the little skirt went peek-a-boo and you could see white pants cupping her buttocks like a bra.

Synonyms

• (garment that covers the body from the waist downwards): breeks, britches, slacks, strides, trousers
• (garment that covers the genitals and often neighbouring body parts): drawers, underpants, underwear

  (for men) boxers, boxer shorts, BVD's, ginch, gitch, gonch, gotch, jockeys, jockey shorts, shorts, skivvies, undershorts

  (for women) underpants, knickers, panties