Gi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A loose, heavy cotton jacket, trousers and belt worn for practising martial arts such as judo, karate and jiu-jitsu
2. The traditional sturdy uniform worn by practitioners of Japanese martial arts, usually made of thick white cotton
3. Training clothing of thick cotton with a wrap-over jacket and drawstring trousers, worn in disciplines like karate and judo

Etymology: The English "gi" is a clipped borrowing from Japanese, where 着 (gi) means "clothing." In Japanese it is almost never used alone. It appears as a suffix in compounds that name the outfit worn for a particular activity, such as 柔道着 (jūdōgi), the uniform for judo, or 空手着 (karategi), the uniform for karate. English speakers picked up only the final element and used it on its own, so "gi" now names the loose cotton uniform worn in these martial arts. The shortening matters because it changed what the word refers to. The Japanese form always told you which art the clothing belonged to, but the English clipping drops that information. A "gi" is understood by context to be a martial arts uniform, and the word has become a standard term in English-speaking dojos and gyms, often with the discipline implied rather than named.

Synonyms: dogi, keikogi, uniform