Undershirt

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A shirt designed to be worn underneath another garment, primarily for warmth and comfort while also providing an extra layer of coverage and modesty
2. A garment worn directly against the skin that provides an additional layer under outer clothing for warmth, comfort, and modesty
3. A lightweight shirt worn under outerwear to provide insulation and prevent sweat from reaching outer garments

Etymology: The garment is about as plain as compounds get: "under-" attached to "shirt," meaning a shirt worn beneath another layer. The surprise lies in "shirt" itself, which has been traced back through Old English "scyrte" to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to cut" or "to shear." A shirt was, at root, a piece of cut cloth, so the word for an everyday garment preserves an act of cutting. The prefix "under-" is ancient and common in English. It was already in Old English as a prefix meaning "beneath" or "below," as in "understand" or "undergo," and it was attached to nouns to name things lying under or inside something else. Its use with clothing is one of many such formations, so "undershirt" follows a pattern that English has used for centuries rather than being a single invention.

Synonyms: t-shirt, tank top