jean

noun

ˈjēn 

plural jeans

1

: a durable twilled cotton cloth used especially for sportswear and work clothes

2

usually jeans

ˈjēnz 

: pants usually made of denim or jean

… strolling with royal puppy Lupo through Kensington Gardens near the couple's two-bedroom cottage in a pair of jeans and rain boots.

—Alicia Dennis et al.

Millions of people today buy designer jeans for double the price of equally durable generic jeans …

—Jared Diamond

see also blue jeans, mom jeans

Examples of jean in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rih dressed down the whimsy, in a white tee, jeans, and a fuzzyz white scarf. —Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2026

Ahead, brush-up on all the most stylish ways to wear baggy jeans this spring and beyond. —Kelsey Stiegman, Glamour, 27 Jan. 2026

The men’s jeans retail for $145 and the twill pants for $135. —Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 27 Jan. 2026

This is not the first time a company outside of the denim sphere used a jeans sweepstakes to drum up interest in their products and services. —Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 16 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

short for jean fustian, from Middle English Gene Genoa, Italy + fustian

First Known Use

1567, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing jean

• jean shorts

Rhymes for jean

• bean
• bein
• bien
• bouin
• chine
• clean
• deen
• diene
• gene
• glean
• keen
• lien

Kids Definition

jean

noun

ˈjēn 

1

: a heavy cotton cloth used especially for sportswear and work clothes

2

plural : pants made of jean, denim, or corduroy

Etymology

a shortened form of earlier jean fustian, literally "a fustian (heavy cotton cloth) from Genoa," from Middle English Gene "Genoa, Italy"