Trousers are an item of clothing worn 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 often refer to such items of clothing as pants, a shortening of the historic term pantaloons. Australia is known to differentiate between pants and trousers.
