Технік-радіольщик Мокроголовенко (hector_von_kyiv) wrote in linguaphiles,
Технік-радіольщик Мокроголовенко
hector_von_kyiv
linguaphiles

worn under

What do the words for "undergarments" mean literally or etymologically in various languages?
E.g. in English and Japanese (下着）it means "clothes worn under other clothes" or "lower clothes". In Russian (бельё) and Ukrainiian (білизна) it is "white things", which may seem to sound paradoxal in "black underwear" (lit. "black white things") :) Although they may also be called "нижнее бельё/нижня білизна" ("lower white things") to distinguish them from bedding that also goes by that name.

Other languages?
Tags: howdoyousay
Subscribe

Recent Posts from This Community

  • Interpretation of the Legend

    (inscriptions on the Kushan Kingdom coins / надписи на монетах Кушанского царства)

  • Spanish query

    I would be most grateful if anyone could help me out with a Spanish idiom, an expression appearing in a discussion of torture from the late 18th…

  • A very strange Etruscan inscription

    Chiusi is a small town in Italy (province of Siena, Tuscany). And once it was one of the most powerful centers of the Etruscan League of 12 cities.…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 19 comments

Recent Posts from This Community

  • Interpretation of the Legend

    (inscriptions on the Kushan Kingdom coins / надписи на монетах Кушанского царства)

  • Spanish query

    I would be most grateful if anyone could help me out with a Spanish idiom, an expression appearing in a discussion of torture from the late 18th…

  • A very strange Etruscan inscription

    Chiusi is a small town in Italy (province of Siena, Tuscany). And once it was one of the most powerful centers of the Etruscan League of 12 cities.…