boardshorts

English

A boy wearing boardshorts

Alternative forms

• board shorts
• boardshort (uncommon)

Etymology

From board +‎ shorts.

Noun

boardshorts pl (plural only, attributive boardshort)

1. A style of typically knee-length lightweight shorts worn generally by males as swimwear and for surfing.
   • 2008 May 15, Guy Trebay, “A Line in the Sand and in the Stores”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     But the appeal of the label — now sold at surf shops in 19 states and 12 countries — is that its black boardshorts and no-frills logos both bypass the sport’s floral sartorial clichés and also, for those in the know, summon up a hard-core, roots surfer image of riders like those Da Hui underwrites.

Synonyms

• boardies (Australia, New Zealand)

Derived terms

• board-shorted

See also

• swimshorts
• swimwear

Anagrams

• shortboards