17

When searching for "swimsuit", I often see just 1 type that looks like this

enter image description here

But my daughter has a pair of pants and a top designed for swimming like this

enter image description here

Do we say "My daughter is wearing a swimsuit"?

Also, when a man goes swimming, he might just wear a pair of shorts designed for swimming that looks like this

enter image description here

It's quite tight and it is made of special cloth.

Do we say "The man is wearing a swimsuit"?

Dhanishtha Ghosh
  • 2,767
  • 11
  • 31
Tom
  • 22,959
  • 54
  • 244
  • 427
  • That guy is wearing underwear or briefs. The swim trunks are called swim briefs or speedos. You have more than one question, as usual. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 17:13
  • I’m voting to close this question because it is more than one question. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 17:14
  • 24
    @Lambie I've never heard "swim briefs" in my life and "speedos" means something with substantially less cloth. It kinda sounds like you just have beef. This could easily be rephrased to "Are all these called 'swimsuits'?" – Azor Ahai -him- May 03 '23 at 03:25
  • 17
    @Lambie "speedo" is a brand name. It's like in the UK we still say "Hoover the floor". Speedo also do trunks and jammers as well as swimming shorts. The man in the picture is not wearing underwear, it's an item specifically designed for swimming (string-tie, stretchy material, additional inner layer). – fdomn-m May 03 '23 at 10:38
  • 6
    There's even (@Lambie) a Speedo logo on those swimming trunks (UK term perhaps); they're definitely not underwear. "Briefs" can be used in the context of swimwear but only to be extra-specific for something smaller, when specifying that they're trunks and not shorts is insufficient – Chris H May 03 '23 at 12:14
  • 1
    @AzorAhai-him- in my UK experience, Speedos are tight-fitting men's swimwear up to about this much coverage; the other common option is (loose fitting, lined) swimming shorts. That usually covers all options for men, though I sometimes wear triathlon shorts (which look like - and double as - cycling shorts but are designed for swimming). – Chris H May 03 '23 at 12:16
  • @freedomn-m I guess people who have not been around here a long time can get no reading on me. Of course, Speedo is a brand name. //Gotta love those 7 agrees about not knowing "swim briefs". Before agreeing, all those people should have tried to google it. – Lambie May 03 '23 at 12:54
  • 2
    @Lambie Anecdotal evidence is quite relevant to descriptivist linguistics. People didn't claim they "don't know about" - they probably agreed they never hear it. You can discredit the upvotes because they didn't arrive at your conclusion via google, but the only problem I see is that feedback by people disagreeing is not equally represented. Yes, research-backed quantitative analysis would be better ¯\(ツ)/¯ but the votes are meaningful in their own right. – sehe May 03 '23 at 15:09
  • @sehe You cannot tell what people say because it is impossible to hear everyone. Therefore, one can only use a survey, and even that is approximate. Also, a trained ear can also be useful. That includes understanding language registers in terms of usage. – Lambie May 03 '23 at 16:15
  • 1
    @ChrisH Fair enough, I should have qualified which dialect I was using, although I was on the swim team in high school and in the US the (jargon) for what the man is pictured wearing would be more like "jammers," where as a "speedo" is something a lot more banana-hammocky. I concede someone else might refer to a tight-fitting swimsuit like that as a "speedo." – Azor Ahai -him- May 03 '23 at 16:33
  • 1
    Nobody disagrees there,@Lambie, I tried to argue that same point. It would be considerably more helpful if you pointed at authoritative source(s) instead of just stating "people should have googled first" - implying that they would reached your/another point of view from just doing that. – sehe May 03 '23 at 16:33
  • 1
    @AzorAhai-him- Thank you for the small/medium size images. They really help! – Dhanishtha Ghosh May 03 '23 at 16:46
  • @AzorAhai-him- it's interesting that you also use "Speedo" singular - it's always used in the plural here – Chris H May 03 '23 at 19:05
  • @ChrisH One person wears a "speedos"? – Azor Ahai -him- May 03 '23 at 22:41
  • @AzorAhai-him- He's not wearing a speedos. He's wearing speedos (although I'm not sure I'd refer to those as speedos, more like weird speedo boxer briefs). I would say the exact same thing as Chris H. – Thierry May 04 '23 at 00:03
  • 2
    @AzorAhai-him- no, he wears speedos, just like trousers or pants – Chris H May 04 '23 at 05:50
  • @Tom: Thanks for a godd question, but, wile my answer would be "YES", I do have some doubts as to whether you qualify as an "English learner") (except for, or course we learn more things every day, but, I thought this was for ESL and, like me, "ETL" people...) – Tuomo May 04 '23 at 15:36
  • 1
    @ChrisH Sure, that's felicitous in my dialect but "a speedo" is also OK. Learn something new every day :) – Azor Ahai -him- May 04 '23 at 18:14
  • @AzorAhai-him- Speedos are like other men's lower garments--normally a pair, thus plural. The singular is almost never used. – Loren Pechtel May 05 '23 at 02:39
  • @LorenPechtel I'm not going to start a third usage argument :) – Azor Ahai -him- May 05 '23 at 14:26

7 Answers7

42

I grew up in Colorado and lived in Texas.

Yes, for your pictures I would say "That woman is wearing a swimsuit", "My daughter is wearing a swimsuit", "The man is wearing a swimsuit".

In normal general discussion I use 'swimsuit' to refer to all types of swimming clothing regardless of gender, type, or number of pieces.

  • "Kids, get your swimsuits on." --Could be single piece or multiple, long or short sleeves
  • "Sir, is this your swimsuit?" --Could be trunks or briefs
  • "Honey, I'll hold your purse while you shop for a new swimsuit." --Could be a one-piece or bikini or whatever

When asked for specifics I would use other terms:

  • "What type of swimsuit is he wearing?" "He's wearing a Speedo."
  • "What swimsuit do you want to pack?" "Bring my swim trunks."

Note:

Wetsuits and drysuits are not 'typical' 'recreational' swimwear and I would not refer to them as swimsuits.

"Is he wearing a normal swimsuit to go diving?" "No, it's really cold and he brought his wetsuit."

Veridis
  • 516
  • 2
  • 4
  • 5
    "Swimsuit" is good when you want to refer vaguely to swimming clothing, but "A Speedo" doesn't travel well ("Speedos" or even "a pair of Speedos" elsewhere). And I agree on the wetsuit distinction - I sometimes swim in a wetsuit, or wetsuit shorts, which aren't described as swimsuits or even swimwear. Drysuits aren't worn for swimming as an activity, though they are worn for activities that involve swimming (diving, or in my case kayaking) – Chris H May 03 '23 at 12:20
  • 5
    @Lambie Your comment could be worth something if included any kind of a hint why you think this answer misrepresents how people actually speak. Have you also lived in Colorado and Texas? Why do you know better how people there speak? – JiK May 03 '23 at 13:31
  • 7
    @Lambie Midwest US here. I definitely might say, "Hey, did you bring your swimsuit?" to a buddy of mine. I might also say "Did you bring your swim trunks/swimming trunks/bathing suit?" These all sound equally normal to me, but I think I'm most likely to say the first one these days because I like how it sounds better. When I was a kid, we often said "swimming trunks," "swimming suit," or "bathing suit," but I think I avoid these now because I have the perception that they sound kind of kiddish or hillbilly. – WaterMolecule May 03 '23 at 14:08
  • 2
    @WaterMolecule For me, swimsuit is a retailer's term or a term used by swimming organizations. I personally would not use it in conversation with a friend, male or female. – Lambie May 03 '23 at 14:40
  • @Lambie I kinda agree, to me swimsuits are exclusively the more elaborate full-body - mostly female - swimwear. However, I don't think "Hey, bro, did you bring your swimsuit" can be compared to "Everyone here is wearing a swimsuit". The context is very different. – sehe May 03 '23 at 15:13
  • @sehe Exactly. And I gave exactly that type of example already. :) – Lambie May 03 '23 at 15:15
  • Speedo is a brand and they make a wide range of models, I have a one piece by them (closer to the top photo than the third one.) – Willeke May 04 '23 at 17:50
17

For me, a Canadian, the word "swimsuit" can cover anything designed to be worn while swimming, including bikinis, swim trunks and single-piece suits for women. It would also include the type of gear your daughter has.

That said, "swimsuit" is more often used specifically to mean a single-piece suit for women like the top one pictured, so if I were talking to a group of mixed ages and genders, I would say, "Let's get our swimming clothes on".

To Canadians -- and I suspect Americans -- the term "swimming costume" sounds outdated, and we would only use it to refer to the full body suits men stopped wearing about 100 years ago:

enter image description here

gotube
  • 49,596
  • 7
  • 72
  • 154
  • 4
    The UK would abbreviate it to 'cozzy' or 'cozzies' informally, for any generic type of swimwear. – DoneWithThis. May 02 '23 at 15:37
  • @DoneWithThis. I have heard people say "cozzy" before but it is pretty rare and I think usage would vary regionally. "Swimming costume" is commonly used though, but more for women's outfits than men's (but could be used for either). – John May 02 '23 at 18:28
  • 18
    To this American, swimsuit is a very generic word applied to anything you wear specifically for swimming. Two piece, one piece, male, female, spandex, denim, it makes no difference. Of course there are more specific classifications - swim trunks, bikini, etc. which will also be used. – EllieK May 02 '23 at 18:49
  • 1
    @EllieK Denim makes for very poor swimwear, but otherwise I agree. – KRyan May 02 '23 at 20:55
  • I'm in the northeast US and to me the phrase "swimming clothes" sounds very strange to me. It seems like there's a lot of variation by country/region/speaker. – alphabet May 02 '23 at 23:05
  • 1
    The man in the picture looks like a prisoner – Tom May 03 '23 at 01:58
  • 5
    @alphabet I find ‘swimming clothes’ rather clunky as well. A more natural generic term to me (besides swimsuit) would be swimwear or swimming gear (though that would also include goggles, swimming cap and various other accoutrements that aren’t actually clothing as such). – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 03 '23 at 01:59
  • 6
    @Tom Believe it or not, that's how men used to dress when they went swimming in Canada and the States (and probably elsewhere too) about 100 years ago. For a man to show his bare chest in public was considered immodest. – gotube May 03 '23 at 03:51
  • 1
    @DoneWithThis. - Cozzy being short for the old-fashioned term bathing costume. – Kate Bunting May 04 '23 at 19:46
  • As a follow Canadian which took swimming lessons his entire school life, and one who lives in sight of an ocean beach, I disagree that swimsuit is more often used specifically to mean a single-piece suit for women. Furthermore, I have never heard swimming clothes, and I find the term jarringly strange. (Same for swimming costume.) I concur with the comment pointing out swimming gear (or just swim gear) means swimsuit and other accessories. – ikegami May 05 '23 at 16:34
3

Merriam-Webster and Cambridge Dictionary define swimsuit as a suit/piece of clothing for swimming or bathing. Collins Dictionary suggests that it is

A swimsuit is a piece of clothing that is worn for swimming, especially by women and girls

I'd be inclined to agree with Cambridge and Collins, who both say that a swimsuit is a [single] piece of clothing.

As the clothing in the second picture is not a single piece, I would call it a full swimming costume, where full indicates that it covers the legs an arms.

For the man, I wouldn't call it a swimsuit: I agree with Collins that a swimsuit is a term used for women's swimwear, so I would call it/them [swimming] trunks or swimming shorts, or a swimming costume.

Note that in Australia they use the word bathers to refer to any kind of swimwear.

JavaLatte
  • 59,614
  • 2
  • 75
  • 134
  • 4
    in the UK we use the word 'speedos' for any male swimwear that is smaller & tighter than is truly wise ;) – DoneWithThis. May 02 '23 at 15:14
  • @DoneWithThis. Sure, speedos. That is what pro swimmers wear when competing. They are meant to be tight. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 16:39
  • Sure we know what they are... 'competition swimwear' but the name, as a derogatory term came to mean too small, too tight. For 20+ years no-one outside competition would actually buy from that manufacturer if even the name tag was big enough to be readable. They shrunk the name & grew the fit and leg length to avoid the stigma. – DoneWithThis. May 02 '23 at 16:58
  • 4
    @DoneWithThis. In Oz they are called budgy smugglers. Go figure. – JavaLatte May 03 '23 at 04:27
  • 3
    "Cambridge and Collins, who both say that a swimsuit is a single piece of clothing", but they don;t quite say that - "single" is your addition, and excluding two-piece women's swimsuits seems odd. – Chris H May 03 '23 at 12:21
  • @ChrisH yes, the do both say "a piece". I added the word single, to clarify the point that I was making: I have added brackets to it in my answer. Swimwear naming is fashion driven: see the comments above about speedos. I remember in the noughties kids saying "Dad, you can't wear those!" .This NGram graph shows that two-piece swimsuit had a similar blip in the nineties, then practically disappeared... except, perhaps, in the memory of the generation that wore them. – JavaLatte May 04 '23 at 00:29
  • swimming costume is British. AND, that full-body two-piece thing is not a costume. – Lambie May 04 '23 at 19:01
  • American: Perfectly possible for a woman to have a two piece swimsuit. – Loren Pechtel May 05 '23 at 02:41
  • “in Australia they use the word bathers to refer to any kind of swimwear” Not completely true: we do in Western Australia, as do South Australia, Tasmania and most of Victoria, but New South Wales uses either “swimmers” or “cossie”. And in Queensland they say “togs”. – Ben Murphy May 05 '23 at 08:01
  • So, if a someone wears only the bottom of their two-piece bikini, then it's a "swimsuit", but if they wear both pieces it's not a "swimsuit"? – CitizenRon May 05 '23 at 13:19
3

I (west coast of the U.S.) would personally call both the woman’s and the man’s swimwear a “swimsuit.” I might also call the man’s, “swim trunks.”

I probably wouldn’t call the girl’s swimwear a “swimsuit,” although I don’t think that’s an error. It reminds me of an old-fashioned “bathing suit” or a modern “wetsuit,” although it isn’t either of those.

I would also call a two-piece bikini a “swimsuit.” Thinking about it, I’d also call a matching pair of briefs and a tank top a “swimsuit” on a woman, but not a man. I’m not sure why, but I seem to think of a woman’s two-piece swimsuit as a single garment.

Davislor
  • 8,459
  • 11
  • 42
  • Yeah, the girl's clothes are so covering they don't look like they're meant for swimming and thus I would hesitate to call them a swimsuit. – Loren Pechtel May 05 '23 at 02:42
  • @LorenPechtel Yeah, that style of swimwear is not common in this country. So I’m not used to it. But it could well be in others. – Davislor May 05 '23 at 06:02
2

To give a UK perspective:

Calling trunks a "swimsuit" would be weird, although not strictly incorrect.

A "swimsuit" is typically a onepiece that covers the genitals and chest (at a minimum). I think the clue here is the "suit" part of the word, trunks alone would be half of a suit.

If you want a generic term, I'd go with "swimwear".

ScottishTapWater
  • 333
  • 1
  • 6
0

Some Australian states have one word for all types of clothing worn while swimming: swimmers.

I just need to get me swimmers on Dad.

It applies to any type of clothing meant for swimming for anyone, even cats.

Jacob Degeling
  • 125
  • 2
-9

My daughter is wearing a full-body, two-piece swimsuit.

[These are usually worn as protection against the sun AKA rash guards]

full-body two-piece swimsuit or swimwear, for the little girl

In the US. A retailer would use swimsuit for both sexes. An older person might say swimsuit for both sexes. An event organizer also. Young/er people say bathing suit (for both sexes), board shorts (for men/boys, longer trunks), trunks, swim trunks. Girls say bathing suit for what they wear (a one-piece, two-piece, tankini or bikini)/

But a young guy would not use swimsuit in speaking to another young guy.

Yesterday, after answering this question, I went to a local pizzeria (Northeast US) where I saw a group of young ladies (14 to 16). I asked them: Can you imagine one young guy saying to another: Hey, dude, did you bring your swimsuit? They all laughed and said NO very loud.

enter image description here

No, the word swimsuit is not used for men except generically on a website or in retailing or event organizing. Speech between men would not usually contain the word swimsuit in conversation. Swim trunks or swimming trunks or even board shorts are more accurate in every day conversation.

Swim briefs are "European look" swimwear or racing briefs. Apparently, these briefs are making a comeback. For a number of years (in the U.S. at least), men's swim trunks became long-ish shorts.

He is wearing a speedo or swim briefs.

This answer is not a treatise on swimwear terminology. It seeks to answer the specific questions from the OP.

Lambie
  • 44,522
  • 4
  • 33
  • 88
  • 13
    Just to show there's a lot of variation in these things, I grew up in California and I have no problem with "swimsuit" referring to men's swimwear, and probably use it more frequently than "swim trunks". – The Photon May 02 '23 at 16:06
  • @ThePhoton Swimsuit is OK for the apparel industry, or a website selling them. I would not say: "John, did you bring your swimsuit with you?" but might say: "Did all the guests bring their swimsuits?" In any event, my answer is accurate for a full-body two-piece swimsuit. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 16:37
  • 6
    I'm not saying anybody's wrong, just that there's a lot of regional and maybe socio-economic variation. – The Photon May 02 '23 at 16:59
  • @ThePhoton And I am saying the variation is contextual (commercial) or generic, not regional. I am not saying anything is wrong either. I am just giving the types of examples I think people would use in the real world in AmE. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 17:01
  • 10
    Then why are there examples of people (me) who think that swimsuit applies equally to mens swimwear as to women's? Am I more commercial than you? Or do I just come from a different place? – The Photon May 02 '23 at 17:02
  • @ThePhoton You prove by that statement that you have not really read my first comment above under your first comment. I clearly gave an example where I would NOT use it for a man when speaking to one man about bringing his swimwear to a place and one where I would use it for men/women together. Those are not the same context. All the boys brought their swimsuits to the birthday party. YES. But not my John question. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 17:07
  • 1
    Your comment said "all the guests". I thought you meant a mixed-gender group. If you meant a group of boys, you should have said 'all the boys" instead of "all the guests". – The Photon May 02 '23 at 17:15
  • 2
    And I'm saying that in some dialects, it applies even when we're just talking about men. I'm not saying nobody makes the distinction you do. I'm saying there's variation and some people apply "swimsuit" to men's swimwear, even if talking to just one man. – The Photon May 02 '23 at 17:17
  • @ThePhoton Yes, I meant a mixed gender group. Exactly. I would not ask some random guy if he brought his swimsuit. What do you not get about that? However, in other contexts I WOULD: Did the children or boys or girls or boys/girls bring their swimsuits? – Lambie May 02 '23 at 17:18
  • 4
    I get that. All I'm adding is that there is variation in usage and some people would use the term when asking a specific (male) guy about his swimsuit. – The Photon May 02 '23 at 17:20
  • @ThePhoton Maybe if the asker is an old lady....but a young guy simply would not say that to another young guy. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 17:21
  • 12
    I'm not young, but I'm not particularly old, and I'm not a lady. Are you really denying that other people in other places or socio-economic circumstances might use some words differently than you do? – The Photon May 02 '23 at 17:24
  • 3
    Swim briefs? Is this new? I have never heard it. – EllieK May 02 '23 at 18:53
  • @ThePhoton Not at all. People have tons and tons of ways of speaking. I very clearly spelled out where I thought swimsuit might be applied or said by guys and where it would not. My opinion on this is nuanced. That's all. That said, I am denying that one young guy would use the word swimsuit with another, Yes. And if I were editing a script, I would find another term for two young guys talking about what they wear to swim in. – Lambie May 02 '23 at 19:53
  • 15
    I'm with ThePhoton here, though I grew up on the opposite coast (Maryland); don't find it unusual to use "swimsuit" to refer to either male or female swimming attire (in any number of pieces.) Given the 4 conflicting answers to this question, I think it's safe to say that there's a lot of variation and nuance to be found in this terminology. – Roddy of the Frozen Peas May 02 '23 at 20:08
  • @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas That is not the question. The question is this: Would one young guy say it to another? I rest my case. I already said it can refer to men or women. That was not my point at all. You seem to want to deny the use of language by some tranches of the population. Also, contexts. No worries. Did you read what I wrote about two guys and a script? – Lambie May 02 '23 at 20:11
  • 13
    You said "I would not ask some random guy if he brought his swimsuit". I would. My younger brother would; he's 25. Is that a "young" guy? I don't know. – Roddy of the Frozen Peas May 02 '23 at 20:22
  • 6
    Massachusetts resident here chiming in (~40yo male, but I was young once!). I'd use "swimsuit" or "bathing suit" as the default, regardless of who I'm talking to (a group, one person regardless of gender, whatever). – yshavit May 03 '23 at 05:07
  • 2
    I say "bathing suit" to refer to anything that people wear to swim, whatever their age or gender, as does almost everyone in my family who is not over 90. "Swimming trunks" sounds terribly British to, although I suppose some people in the United States say it as well. "Swimming shorts" seems very specific: if I said that, I would probably be talking about a normal pair of shorts that someone used for swimming instead of as regular wear. – Obie 2.0 May 03 '23 at 18:59
  • 2
    Bathing suit, swimsuit, swimwear are all able to be used for both male and female garments. The fact that one usage is more prevalent does not mean the other is wrong. That's not how language works. – barbecue May 03 '23 at 19:32
  • @yshavit Well, I live in a South Shore beach town. Yesterday, I asked a group of teenage girls at a pizzeria: Would one guy your age say to another: Hey, dude, did you bring your swimsuit to the pool party? They laughed in my face. Swimsuit depends on context, age and register. Next, I will ask teenage boys. Try it for yourself. You'll see. :) – Lambie May 04 '23 at 14:01
  • As a former young guy, I used "swimsuit" when talking to other guys all the time and nobody batted an eye. That is absolutely normal usage and in fact far more common than any of the alternatives you suggest, at least here in California. – John Montgomery May 04 '23 at 18:56
  • @JohnMontgomery I would have thought that California would use: board shorts. I have not suggested alternatives. I have answered the OP's questions, that's all. I have not done a complete exegesis of the issue. – Lambie May 04 '23 at 18:58
  • @Lambie I have literally never heard someone call them board shorts. As for the alternatives, I was referring to your statement "Young/er people say bathing suit (for both sexes), board shorts (for men/boys, longer trunks), trunks, swim trunks." I use, and hear other people use, swimsuit far more often than any of those. – John Montgomery May 04 '23 at 19:05