An undershirt in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

(vest in

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and South African English, banyan in the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

, or singlet in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

), is an article of

underwear Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

worn underneath a

dress shirt A dress shirt, button shirt, button-front, button-front shirt, or button-up shirt, is a garment with a collar and a full-length opening at the front, which is fastened using buttons or shirt studs. A button-down or button-down shirt is a dress ...

(or sometimes

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

) intended to protect it from body

sweat Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals. Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distribut ...

and

odors An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sense ...

. It can have short sleeves (

) or be sleeveless (

A-shirt A sleeveless shirt is a shirt that is manufactured without sleeves or whose sleeves have been cut off. Depending on the style, they can be worn as undershirts, by athletes in sports such as track and field and triathlon, or as casual wear by ...

). The term most commonly refers to upper-body innerwear worn by males. An undershirt may be worn to protect the body from stiff or otherwise uncomfortable fabric. It also makes dress shirts less

transparent Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still, ...

, to reduce the amount of sweat absorbed by the shirt's fabric. It can be worn during winter months as an extra layer of warmth, and reduces wear on the upper layers of clothing.

History

Factory mass-produced undershirts became common in the West in the early 20th century, with innovations turning the

union suit A union suit is a type of one-piece long underwear, most often associated with menswear in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. History Created in Utica, New York, United States, it originated as women's wear during the 19th-century United S ...

into two pieces, for upper and lower body.

Types of undershirts

* A sleeveless undershirt, also known as an A-shirt, tank top, or wife beater (slang), has large armholes, a large neck hole, and offers little protection for armpit sweat. * A

crew neck A crew neck (crewneck or crew-neck) is a type of shirt or sweater that has a round neckline and no collar, often worn with other layers. The name dates back to 1939 and was named after a type of sweater worn by rowers. The T-shirt crew neck was de ...

T-shirt has a high neckline, often requiring fully buttoned shirts to avoid being seen. * A V-neck T-shirt has a V-shaped neckline. * A long sleeved T-shirt has long sleeves, and may be designed with extra insulation for use in cool weather. This type of shirt is also commonly worn under a work shirt in very hot desert climates to protect against intense sun.

References

{{Men's undergarments History of clothing (Western fashion) Undergarments