Jeans Meaning
/d͡ʒiːnz/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA pair of trousers made from denim cotton.
nounplural of jean
Sentence Examples
Meg was the only girl that was wearing jeans.
It is easy to work in jeans.
I ripped my jeans on the fence.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He wore an old pair of faded blue ____ with holes in the knees.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He usually wears blue ____ and a simple t-shirt on weekends when he is relaxing at home.
Word Origin & History
From Gene(s) (also spelled Jean(s)), an obsolete English name for the Italian city of Genoa. Compare French Gênes. In the context of clothing, the term originally denoted a kind of coarse cotton (known more fully as Gene(s) fustian) that was associated with Genoa. It began to be used for trousers made of such cloth in the 19th century. At this point, the final -s was reanalysed as a plural ending.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"As a general thing, they were dressed in homespun “jeans,” blue or yellow—there were no other varieties of it; all wore one suspender and sometimes two—yarn ones knitted at home,—some wore vests, but few wore coats."
— 1873, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, published 1874, →OCLC, page 19:
"Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food."
— 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
"She added: “I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life.”"
— 2025 December 6, Tom Murray, quoting Sydney Sweeney, “Sydney Sweeney admits her silence on divisive jeans advert made controversy worse”, in The Independent:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He wore an old pair of faded blue ____ with holes in the knees.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He usually wears blue ____ and a simple t-shirt on weekends when he is relaxing at home.