What does chausses mean?
Chausses are the close-fitting leg coverings worn throughout much of the Middle Ages, running from the waist or hips down to the feet. Made from cloth, wool, linen, or leather, they were the standard legwear of both men and women across Europe, laced or pointed to a doublet to keep them taut. In military contexts, chausses took tougher forms: padded fabric versions cushioned the skin beneath mail chausses, and later plate chausses articulated steel defences for the thighs, knees, and shins. Today the word survives almost entirely in historical writing, museum catalogues, and the reenactment community, giving it an archaic, scholarly flavour. Its etymology is memorable: it derives from Old French, ultimately from Latin calceus, meaning shoe, and its modern French descendants include chaussette, the everyday word for sock. Anyone interested in medieval costume, heraldry, or arms and armour will meet this word repeatedly.
Close-fitting medieval leg coverings extending from the waist or hips to the feet, made of cloth, wool, or other fabric.
"Peasants wore rough woollen chausses bound at the knee with garters."
Usually plural; 'a pair of chausses' is idiomatic.
(In the study of armour) Leg defence made of mail or plate, forming part of a full harness.
"The harness included mail chausses riveted to a padded underlayer."
Commonly qualified as 'mail chausses' or 'plate chausses'.
Chausses is normally used only in the plural, like 'trousers'; the rare singular 'chaus' appears only in specialist historical writing.
"He laced his chausses securely to the points of his doublet."
Before trousers existed, medieval knights wore 'chausses' — and the French word for sock, chaussette, is its direct descendant.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chausses
Chausses comes from Old French chauces, the plural of chauce, meaning hose or breeches, derived from Late Latin calcea, from Latin calceus, meaning shoe or footwear — so the word originally connected leg coverings with shoes. It entered English in the medieval period to describe contemporary legwear, and remained current until replaced by words like hose and breeches. Its closest living relatives are French chaussure (footwear) and chaussette (sock), which preserve the same root in modern usage.
How chausses is actually used
Chausses is a historical or technical term used mainly by historians, costumers, reenactors, and students of armour; it sounds archaic in everyday speech. It is almost always treated as a plural noun (a pair of chausses), though singular use occurs in specialist writing.
Easily confused with chausses
Chausses are medieval leg coverings, while a chassis is the base frame of a vehicle or electronic device.