Vest
Encyclopedia
A vest is a garment covering the upper body. The term has different meanings around the world:

Waistcoat
Waistcoat
A waistcoat or vest is a sleeveless upper-body garment worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear, and as the third piece of the three-piece male business suit.-Characteristics and use:...

 :(a sleeveless under-jacket). This is called a waistcoat in the UK and many Commonwealth countries, or a vest in the US and Canada. It is often worn as part of formal attire, or as the third piece of a lounge suit
Suit (clothing)
In clothing, a suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth, consisting of at least a jacket and trousers. Lounge suits are the most common style of Western suit, originating in the United Kingdom as country wear...

.
Undershirt
Undershirt
A vest, undershirt, tank top, , singlet or a wife beater is an article of underwear worn underneath a dress shirt intended to protect them from body sweat and odors. It can have short sleeves or be sleeveless. The term most commonly refers to upper-body wear worn by males.It also makes dress...

 :(an undergarment, normally worn under a shirt). It is known as an undershirt in the US and Canada, vest in the UK and many Commonwealth countries, and singlet in Australia and Asia, and is typically in the form of a T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....

 or sleeveless top. It is also known by the slang name wife-beater or just beater for short in various countries.
Other sleeveless jackets: Vest may refer to other outer garments, such as a sports tank top
Tank top
Tank top may refer to:* a type of sleeveless shirt worn by men and women * a sleeveless sweater, also known as a sweater vest * the plating forming the inner bottom of a ship hull...

, or a padded sleeveless jacket popular for hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

, commonly known as a hunting vest. Another common variant is the fishing vest which carries a profusion of external pockets for carrying fishing tackle. The term jerkin
Jerkin (garment)
A jerkin is a man's short close-fitting jacket, made usually of light-colored leather, and often without sleeves, worn over the doublet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries...

is also used to refer to this sort of sleeveless outdoor coat.
A sweater vest (American and Canadian English): This may also be called a slipover, sleeveless sweater, or tank top (which may also refer to a type of sleeveless shirt).
Banyan
Banyan (clothing)
A banyan is a garment worn by men in the 18th century influenced by Persian and Asian clothing....

: This Indian garment is commonly called a vest in Indian English
Indian English
Indian English is an umbrella term used to describe dialects of the English language spoken primarily in the Republic of India.As a result of British colonial rule until Indian independence in 1947 English is an official language of India and is widely used in both spoken and literary contexts...

.

Etymology

The term vest derives from French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 veste "jacket, sport coat", Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 vesta, veste "robe, gown" and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 vestis. The sleeveless garment worn by men beneath a coat may have been first popularised by King Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, since a diary entry by Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

(October 8, 1666) records that "[t]he King hath yesterday, in Council, declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes.... It will be a vest, I know not well how; but it is to teach the nobility thrift."
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