The Blazer Was Named for Its Blazing Red Colour
A blazer is a smart jacket. The name came from a rowing club whose jackets were a startling scarlet.
A blazer is a smart jacket, less formal than a suit coat. The name is literal: the Lady Margaret Boat Club at Cambridge wore jackets of a bright scarlet in the 1820s that observers said blazed. The colour faded from fashion, the word did not, and now most blazers are navy.
- A smart jacket. *A navy blazer.*
- A club or school jacket. *The school blazer.*
- Blazer as a modifier. *Blazer buttons.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | blazer | A wool blazer. |
| Plural | blazers | Matching blazers. |
| Verb | blaze | The fire blazed. |
| Noun | blaze | A fierce blaze. |
| Related | sports jacket | A tweed sports jacket. |
How it is used in a sentence
- He wore a blazer and grey trousers.The classic combination.
- School blazers carry the crest.British schools.
- A blazer has patch or flap pockets.It is not a suit jacket without trousers.
Blazer, suit jacket, sports coat
- Blazer — solid colour, often with metal buttons
- Suit jacket — matches trousers of the same cloth
- Sports coat — patterned, usually tweed or checked
- Double-breasted — overlapping front with two rows of buttons
- Club blazer — bearing the badge of a club or school
From *blaze*, Old English *blæse*, a torch or bright flame. The garment sense is recorded from the 1880s.
Is a blazer the same as a suit jacket?
No. A suit jacket has matching trousers; a blazer is worn with contrasting ones.
Why are blazer buttons often metal?
From the naval and club tradition, where brass buttons carried an insignia.