A Sweater Was Meant to Make You Sweat
A sweater is a knitted upper garment. The name is literal: it was first worn by athletes trying to lose weight.
A sweater is a knitted garment for the upper body. The name is honest about its origin: heavy knitted sweaters were worn by athletes in the nineteenth century specifically to induce sweating and lose weight before competition. British English mostly says *jumper*, from an old word for a loose jacket.
- A knitted upper garment. *A woollen sweater.*
- Jumper — the British equivalent. *A Christmas jumper.*
- Sweatshirt — a heavy cotton top. *A hooded sweatshirt.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | sweater | A cable-knit sweater. |
| Plural | sweaters | Winter sweaters. |
| British | jumper | A woolly jumper. |
| Related | pullover | A cotton pullover. |
| Related | cardigan | A buttoned cardigan. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Bring a sweater; it gets cold.American.
- He wore an awful Christmas jumper.British, and a December institution.
- A cardigan buttons at the front.Named after the Earl of Cardigan.
Knitted garments
- Sweater / jumper — pulled over the head
- Pullover — the same, describing how it goes on
- Cardigan — opens at the front, named after a Crimean War commander
- Sweatshirt — heavy cotton jersey, not knitted
- Guernsey and Aran — traditional fisherman's knits named after islands
From *sweat*, Old English *swætan*, plus *-er*. The garment sense dates from the 1880s in American sporting use.
Sweater or jumper?
Sweater is American, jumper British. Confusingly, an American jumper is a sleeveless dress.
Why is a cardigan called that?
After the seventh Earl of Cardigan, whose troops wore knitted waistcoats in the Crimean War.