Denim: A Cloth Named After a French Town

What Does Denim Mean?

Denim is a strong, thick cotton cloth, usually blue, used for jeans, jackets and bags.

My jeans are made of denim.
Leo wore a denim jacket to the park.

It is a material, not a piece of clothing. A pair of jeans is clothing, and denim is the cloth the jeans are cut from.

🔊 Pronunciation

DEN-im

The stress is on the first part: DEN. The second part is short and quiet, like im in him.

🗣️ Natural Examples

Mia loves her old denim jacket.
This bag is made of strong denim.
Dark blue denim looks smart.
The denim shorts were great for the summer.
Sam sewed a patch onto his denim cap.

🛠️ How to Use It

• Denim is an uncountable noun: some denim, a piece of denim.
• It can also come before another noun: a denim jacket, denim jeans.
• It is not usually used as a plural. People say jeans, not denims.
• You wear jeans, but denim is the material.

🤝 Common Word Partners

• a denim jacket
• blue denim
• dark denim
• old denim
• stretch denim
• made of denim

🌳 Word Family

• denim (noun): the cloth. The denim is thick.
• denims (noun, plural): an older word for trousers made of denim.
• jeans (noun, plural): trousers made of denim or similar cloth.

👯 Similar and Related Words

• Cotton: the plant fibre that denim is made from.
• Jeans: the trousers. Denim is the cloth.
• Corduroy: a different thick cloth with lines in it.
• Canvas: another strong cloth, used for bags and shoes.

The difference: denim is the cloth, and jeans are what you wear.

⚠️ Common Mistakes

Denim is not the clothing.
❌ I put on my denim.
✅ I put on my jeans. / I put on my denim jacket.

Do not add an s for the cloth.
❌ The bag is made of denims.
✅ The bag is made of denim.

Do not stress the second part.
❌ den-IM
✅ DEN-im

💬 In a Conversation

Mia: Why are jeans called denim?
Sam: They aren't. Jeans are the trousers, and denim is the cloth.
Mia: So my jacket is denim?
Sam: Yes, and it's named after a French town.
Mia: My jacket has travelled more than I have.

🕵️ Where Does It Come From?

Denim comes from a French phrase, serge de Nîmes, which means "serge from Nîmes". Serge was a kind of woollen cloth, and Nîmes is a town in the south of France.

English took the last part and shortened it. De Nîmes became denim. The word dates from the 1690s, when it first named that woollen cloth.

By 1850, American English used denim for a strong cotton cloth. The word denims for trousers made of it is recorded from 1868.

💡 The OddLingo Trick

Say de Nîmes quickly. It sounds like denim.

So when someone asks "what is denim?", you can answer: it's the cloth from Nîmes, with the town hiding inside the word.