Pyjamas or pajamas (the American spelling) is one of several of today’s dress-related words that first entered the English language from the Indian sub-continent, reflecting the ‘borrowing’ of Eastern-style garments by Western wearers.

Deriving from the Bengali word pajāmā – itself based on the Persian word pāy-jāmeh (meaning ‘leg-garment’) – traditionally pajamas were loose cotton trousers with a drawstring waist worn by both male and female Muslims in India. From around 1800, as the colonial presence in India expanded and expat life became more established, pajama trousers and other cool, lightweight clothes suited to a tropical climate were adopted there by British and other European men, as comfortable, practical leisure wear for lounging and sleeping.

Sometimes men used only the pyjama trousers, but by the time that pyjamas were adopted in late-Victorian Britain, they usually comprised a shirt and matching loose trousers fashioned from a soft material such as flannel. The famous dictionary Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases (1886) stated that pyjama suits were now being supplied by London tailors and outfitters. Early styles often had a drop seat (buttoned opening in the seat) for convenience, but this feature eventually became outmoded. Since scarcely any women wore bifurcated garments at all in the 1800s and early 1900s, for decades pyjamas remained a male item and women continued to wear long nightgowns in bed.

Between the two world wars some women began to adopt trousers as casual daywear and as the etiquette of dress continued to relax, loose lounging trousers came into vogue and by the 1930s cool ‘beach pyjamas’ became a popular holiday fashion. During World War Two, when women in trousers were a familiar sight, pyjama suits became more widely adopted as female sleepwear and this trend advanced during the mid-late 20th century. Men’s and women’s pyjamas were often fashioned from easy-care nylon, polyester and other artificial fabrics, although recent decades have witnessed a return to more hygienic natural fibres, especially cotton, bringing the history of pyjamas full circle.