What’s the plural of trousers?
Mostly referred to as pants, trousers are a plural noun with no singular noun form.
Some nouns in English that consist of pairs, parts or pieces are only referred to in the plural case. Common, everyday objects like glasses, pants, jeans, scissors, trousers and tongs are all what we call “plural-only” nouns that do not use a singular noun form (for the most part).
Is “his pair of trousers” singular or plural?
Trousers are a piece of clothing, comparable to a standard pair of pants, and is a more common way to refer to pants in the UK.
Because we consider the object and garment trousers to be a plural-only noun, it’s correct to use plural verb forms when we refer to them. Also, we naturally refer to ‘trousers’ (and pants) as ‘a pair of…’, despite that we typically are only referring to a single object or item.
So, for example, “Are there any clean trousers in my closet?” is correct, as it uses the plural “are”. It would be incorrect to say, “is there any trousers“, because “it” is for singular nouns. The same is true for all the other plural-only nouns; e.g., scissors, glasses, jeans, and so on.
Non-singular/plural-only nouns. By Gflex on Canva.
“Trousers”, used in sentence examples
| Sentence examples: trousers |
|---|
| My trousers are wet. Why aren’t you wearing any trousers, David? I need a new pair of trousers to go with this jacket. You will be wearing long trousers full of patches everywhere. He took some gold pieces from his trouser pocket and put them on the dish for her. |
Origin of the word trousers
From etymology online on trousers (n.):
Garment for men, covering the lower body and each leg separately,” 1610s, earlier trouzes (1580s), extended from trouse (1570s), with plural ending typical of things in pairs, from Gaelic or Middle Irish triubhas “close-fitting shorts”.
Read more about nouns
Sources
- Definition of trousers.
- Sentences using trousers.
- Origin of trousers.
