Spijkerbroek

Grammar: <spijker> <broek> [noun] [de spijkerbroek, de spijkerbroeken].

Translates to: (pair of) jeans (literally: (pair of) nail trousers).

"Spijkerbroek" consists of two words:
1. "Spijker": nail.
2. "Broek": pair of trousers, pants.
The name "jeans" is derived from the name of the Italian city where jeans were first created: Genova (source: wikipedia). Although popular English words are quite commonly used in the Dutch language, and the same holds for "jeans", the Dutch "spijkerbroek" is still in favour. In the 1850s Levi Strauss had a customer who suggested to reinforce the points of strain on the jeans with copper rivets. These look a bit like nails and that is why we talk about "nail pants/trousers"!
Examples:
1. "Morgen ga ik de stad in om een nieuwe spijkerbroek te kopen."
("Tomorrow I am going downtown to buy a new pair of jeans.")
2. "Mijn favoriete spijkerbroekenmerk is Diesel."
("Diesel is my favourite jeans brand.")
Related word:
"Hamer": hammer. See "DWOTD (46): Hamer".
Extra:
Read more on the history of jeans at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeans.
The word "spijkerbroek" appeared earlier in "DWOTD (47): Das " and "DWOTD (63): Rits".

One thought on “Spijkerbroek

  1. Originally, jeans had copper rivets on the rear pockets as well as in the front. This was dropped because it scratched to many school chairs and car fenders. Today, jeans only have copper rivets in the front. Have a look at your own rear if you need verification 🙂

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