Culottes are items of clothing worn on the lower half. The case of culottes meaning split skirts, historical men's breeches, or women's under-pants is an example of fashion-industry words taken from designs across history, languages and cultures, then using them to describe different garments, often creating confusion among historians, and readers. The French word culotte is (a pair of) panties, pants, knickers, trousers, shorts, or (historically) breeches; derived from the French word culot, meaning the lower-half of a thing, the lower garment in this case.