the.com/pant
Half a pair pretending it's whole, the lonely singular fashion forgot to use.
means To breathe in quick, shallow, audible gasps, usually from exertion or heat — though as a noun it's also the technically-correct-but-rarely-spoken singular of 'pants.'
from The breathing sense comes from Middle English 'panten,' likely via Old French 'pantaisier' (to gasp or be agitated), traced back to a Vulgar Latin form related to Greek 'phantasioun,' to have visions — the breathless panic of nightmares. The garment 'pant' is a back-formation from 'pants,' itself clipped from 'pantaloons,' named for Pantalone, the skinny-legged old man of Italian commedia dell'arte. Two unrelated words that happen to share a spelling.
- grammar oddity
- Almost always plural, like scissors and glasses
- old root
- Named after Pantalone, a greedy Venetian stage clown
- tailor speak
- Industry insiders say pant, never pants
- two-leg logic
- Plural form survives from when legs dressed separately
pant lizard — phrynosoma platyrhinos, desert lizard that inflates its body and hisses when threatened
pant leg — individual trouser section, common clothing term for each of the two fabric tubes