Hose are any of various styles of men's

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

for the legs and lower body, worn from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

through the 17th century, when the style fell out of use in favour of

breeches Breeches ( ) are an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each human leg, leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. Formerly a standard item of Weste ...

and

stocking Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparen ...

s. The old plural form of "hose" was "hosen". In German these terms (''Hose'', singular, and ''Hosen'', plural) remained in use and are the generic terms for trousers today. The French equivalent was ''chausses''.

History

Since the 13th century, hose were already known to have been worn in Europe; these were tights that stretch from waist to feet. The outline of the legs were conspicuously shown, with the groin area sometimes covered by a material called a

codpiece A codpiece () is a triangular piece that attached to the front of men's hose, covering the fly. It may be held in place by ties or buttons. It was an important fashion item of European clothing during the 15th–16th centuries. In the modern er ...

. However, unlike modern tights, these hose were not elastic; they were held firm while laced to the

doublet Doublet is a word derived from the Latin ''duplus'', "twofold, twice as much",