# Origin of the term "fly" (in reference to pants or underwear) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fly-in-reference-to-pants-or-underwear/584395 "2011-06-05T15:11:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fly-in-reference-to-pants-or-underwear/584395/1 "2011-06-05T15:11:20Z")
Where did the term “fly” in this context come about? I checked Wikipedia, and it gave a history of the pants feature, but it did not say where the term came from. For what it’s worth, pants used to be pulled down for “sanitary” functions, then later came the codpiece, which evolved in to an attached front, which evolved in to the fly. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fly-in-reference-to-pants-or-underwear/584395/2 "2011-06-05T15:14:28Z")
The OED says it comes from “flap”: > [@OED](#): > > 1. Something attached by the edge. Cf. flap n. 4. > Thesaurus » > Categories » > > a. A strip or lap on a garment, to contain or cover the button-holes; hence something used to cover or connect (see quot. 1884). spec. (freq. pl.) the piece of cloth that hides the fastening at the front of a pair of trousers; also, the fastening itself. > > 1844 Regul. & Ord. Army 154 [Trousers] Open in front, with a Fly and Five Buttons. > 1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. IV. 351/1 Fly, the fore flap of a bootee. A strip of leather which overwraps the front vamp and receives the strings or other fastening. > 1941 I. Baird He rides Sky 234 A pair of tennis shorts with zipper fly. > 1942 E. Paul Narrow St. i. 6 The professor‥turned toward the pissoir, unbuttoning his fly en route. > 1952 ‘Vigilans’ Chamber of Horrors 27 The words button one’s fly are offensive only to the prurient. > 1953 M. Dickens No More Meadows i. 49 Champ, your flies are undone again. That boy! He’ll be arrested yet. > 1959 R. Fuller Ruined Boys ii. viii. 128 ‘Your flies are undone,’ said Matley primly. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fly-in-reference-to-pants-or-underwear/584395/3 "2011-06-05T15:32:29Z")
“Cf.” does not mean “comes from”: it means “compare”. “Fly” in this sense comes from the verb “fly”. (There’s another English noun “fly”, which means a kind of insect.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-term-fly-in-reference-to-pants-or-underwear/584395/4 "2011-06-05T17:06:56Z")
Oddly enough, if you are discussing western Europe, the progression sort of went trews for celts and roman soldiers, scythians and a few assorted other groups to hose held to a belt with points and laces with a cod around 700 or so, with the cod being more of a plain flap almost like a thong. Trews and trunk hose came back much later mainly for the peasant class until after about the 1650s or so - peasants not really having the time or money to play fancy with dressing. Noneuropeans still had trews in one form or another, but generally are not considered for western european clothing styles =) Actually many steppes types used chaps over trews when riding - softer linen or silk trews and heavier woolen and leather chaps. I have a set of chaps that I am making that match a del and braidcase, but it really doesn’t get cold enogh for me to wear them to an SCA event, it really calls for that cold steppes wind that you get coming down out of Canada and hitting Chicago in January =) and Connecticut really doesn’t get winter most years.