Chinos Are Named After Where the Cloth Came From

Chinos are casual trousers made from a sturdy cotton twill. The name is American Spanish for Chinese: the cloth used for United States army uniforms in the Philippines around 1900 was bought from China, and Spanish-speaking soldiers called the trousers *pantalones chinos*. The cloth's origin became the garment's name. The word is almost always plural in the clothing sense, like *trousers* and *jeans*.

• Cotton twill trousers. *A pair of chinos.*
• The fabric. *Chino cloth.*
• Twill — the diagonal weave. *A twill weave.*
• Khaki — the related colour word. *Khaki chinos.*
• Spanish — *chino*, Chinese. *The source word.*

Word forms

• He wore chinos and a blazer.Clothing.
• Chino cloth is a cotton twill.Fabric.
• The name is Spanish for Chinese.Etymology.

Clothes named after places

• Chinos — from the Spanish word for Chinese
• Denim — *de Nîmes*, from the French city
• Jeans — from Genoa, *Gênes* in French
• Cashmere — from Kashmir
• Duffel — from a town in Belgium

American Spanish *chino*, Chinese, referring to the origin of the cloth. English recorded the trousers by the 1940s.