# Still Don't Know Difference Between Chinos and Khakis



## 100Cotton (Dec 24, 2008)

I know about the different history behind each, but what is the difference today? Are chinos cut slimmer?

Danka!


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## Scoundrel (Oct 30, 2007)

I believe khakis are tan and cotton, while chinos are cotton pants of any color. I guess technically khakis are chinos, just more common than other colored cotton pants. That's why they get a name.


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## Memphis88 (Sep 10, 2008)

I'm pretty sure chinos is technically the term for the type of pants while khaki is just a color. People use the words interchangeably though. I call them khakis 9 times out of 10 even if the color of the pants is not khaki.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

While I agree with all of the above offerings, I hasten to add that some of us also wear "khaki" colored wool gabs, during the cooler months! Though the term khakis is frequently used as a descriptor for our, ever so popular, cotton twill trousers (chinos).


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## Hobson (Mar 13, 2007)

Perhaps just my impression, but chinos imply more casual details. While khakis do not require more formal details, you will sometimes see dress khakis at stores like LL Bean. I don't think I've ever seen anything called dress chinos. Again, just my impression.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Growing up in the South in the '50's and 60's I can't remember ever even hearing the word 'chinos'. We called those kind of pants khakis regardless of what color they were.

I was in my 30's in the mid-80's when I heard the Billy Joel song _Keeping the Faith _in which he makes reference to a tight pair of chinos. This is my first recollection of actually hearing this word, although I'm sure I must have heard it before this. This is surprising because by that time I had served four years in the Navy, lived in California, and graduated from two different universities.

You would think that I would have picked up the word chinos somewhere along the way, but I didn't. For some reason I had the idea that they were some kind of tight, shiny pants that young guys wore in places like New York City. Then one day I decided to look them up and lo and behold found that they were just khakis. :icon_smile:

Cruiser


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

Reading this thread has me asking myself...which came first the chicken or the egg?

Not a knock on the question at all as its very valid, but the idea that there may never be an answer found led my mind adrift. Happens a lot with me...:crazy:


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## Memphis88 (Sep 10, 2008)

Cruiser said:


> Growing up in the South in the '50's and 60's I can't remember ever even hearing the word 'chinos'. We called those kind of pants khakis regardless of what color they were.


So I guess it might be partly regional too. I too never here chinos and the one time out of ten time I say chinos is if I'm at a J. Crew or something and I'm asking about trying some on or something because that's what they are called there. Even then I usually just say khakis.


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## clemsontiger (Jun 9, 2007)

^I think it may be a regional thing. Growing up in the South, I too rarely, if ever, heard the term chinos, it was always khakis.


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

clemsontiger said:


> ^I think it may be a regional thing. Growing up in the South, I too rarely, if ever, heard the term chinos, it was always khakis.


This thread is interesting, if only because it shows how clothing terms change from region to region...and generation to generation. For example, I grew up and still live in the Midwest. The term "khaki" seems to be used much more than "chino." However, through the years my understanding has changed a bit to where I refer to the style of (casual) pant as a "chino," and the color (which changes dramatically from manufacturer to manufacturer) as "khaki."


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## vwguy (Jul 23, 2004)

First time I ever heard the term chinos was in college. I asked a female friend what to wear for a weekend conference, she replied chinos & a button down shirt and I had no clue what she meant by chinos. She grew up in a city about an hour away from me, but she was more "worldy" than I  I still call them khakis and it is the more popular term here in my part of WI.

Brian


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## Reddington (Nov 15, 2007)

As a Southerner, I have always referred to them as _khakis, _regardless of color.


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## Pleasant McIvor (Apr 14, 2008)

Reddington said:


> As a Southerner, I have always referred to them as _khakis, _regardless of color.


Diner: "I'd like a Coke."

Waiter: "What kind?"


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

My limited understanding goes something like this...

Khaki is a color. Chino is a fabric. Chinos are trousers made out of chino cloth. Khakis are trousers that are khaki colored, usually chinos, and originally chinos cut in a WWII military style.

In practice, they're regional words for the same thing.


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## Thom Browne's Schooldays (Jul 29, 2007)

I think the difference is undefined and arbitrary.

I call casual khakis (i.e. older ones I wouldn't wear with a sportcoat) "chinos", and nicer khakis "khakis".


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

Interesting thread. 

Kinda makes me want to go on line and order a pair of Bill's chinos (the Original Twills).


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

It's not complicated.

"Chino" refers to a style of cotton trouser, "khaki" refers to a color.

"Khaki chinos" are usually referred to simply as "khakis."

To further clarify, navy blue chinos are not "khakis."

Gabardine or wool trousers are not "chinos", even if they're khaki-colored. Therefore, they're not "khakis."

:teacha:


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

katon said:


> My limited understanding goes something like this...
> 
> Khaki is a color. Chino is a fabric. Chinos are trousers made out of chino cloth. Khakis are trousers that are khaki colored, usually chinos, and originally chinos cut in a WWII military style....


...and (just to confuse things further) commonly referred to by military personnel, as 'pinks'!


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## perryw (Sep 22, 2008)

Pleasant McIvor said:


> Diner: "I'd like a Coke."
> 
> Waiter: "What kind?"


I lived in Georgia for 13 years, that's the way I think.

Shopper: "I'm looking for a pair of khaki's."

SA: "What color?"


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## outrigger (Aug 12, 2006)

My guess is Chinos is the European word for Khakis. I've always called Bills Khakis, Chinos, and only came across the word Khakis since joining this forum.


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

Khaki is, I think, the Sanskrit word for sand, which described the colour of trousers that a certain British officer requested for his troops so that their whites would stop getting discoloured by the blowing sand. So British khaki is a colour of military pants, which in turn gave way to misnomers such as "khaki-green". I also believe that many of these style and cut of pants were produced in China, and thus arrived in crates marked "China" which quite some time ago morphed into "Chino". So I assume that military style pants (using the notion quite broadly) that are sand coloured are appropriately called Khakis or chinos, while the same garment in another colour may be called "chinos" though less appropriately "Khakis". I realise both that I am being a pedant here, and that one or both of these etymologies may be mythical.


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## pinkgreenpolo (Jul 15, 2005)

*Chinos and Khakis*

Hello,

As far as I know...The difference between Chino's and Khaki's is that Khaki is a color and Chino's are a style of pants.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Cruiser said:


> I was in my 30's in the mid-80's when I heard the Billy Joel song _Keeping the Faith _in which he makes reference to a tight pair of chinos. This is my first recollection of actually hearing this word, although I'm sure I must have heard it before this.


That was my first thought when reading this thread too. Of course, growing up in Philadelphia in the 70s, I knew that Flagg Bros. was a shoe store, but I never cared if they carried matador boots with a Cuban heel or if they were indeed exclusive there.

As a trivia buff, I knew that the cotton material was woven in England and sent to China to be assembled into trousers. From there they were sent back to England and they gained popularity as "Chinos."

Because I also live in the South, I use the word "khakis" unless I am specifically referring to a pair of chinos that is not khaki in color.


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## Green3 (Apr 8, 2008)

Pleasant McIvor said:


> Diner: "I'd like a Coke."
> 
> Waiter: "What kind?"


could you expand on this one? Is coke a generic term for a soft drink?


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## Memphis88 (Sep 10, 2008)

Yeah, down here the word coke is often used instead of soft drink or pop etc. I figured everyone at least knew that we called everything coke even if they didn't do so themselves.


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## hbs midwest (Sep 19, 2007)

P Hudson said:


> Khaki is, I think, the Sanskrit word for sand, which described the colour of trousers that a certain British officer requested for his troops so that their whites would stop getting discoloured by the blowing sand. So British khaki is a colour of military pants, which in turn gave way to misnomers such as "khaki-green". I also believe that many of these style and cut of pants were produced in China, and thus arrived in crates marked "China" which quite some time ago morphed into "Chino". So I assume that military style pants (using the notion quite broadly) that are sand coloured are appropriately called Khakis or chinos, while the same garment in another colour may be called "chinos" though less appropriately "Khakis". I realise both that I am being a pedant here, and that one or both of these etymologies may be mythical.


More or less the same story I heard...I was given to understand that "Chinos" derived from "China" (so far, so good) courtesy of US military response to the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Our military had only recently gone into khaki from blue, and the new color was associated with overseas ventures in China, Cuba, the Philippines, and Caribbean. True or not? Who knows.

Enjoy the week.

hbs


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## Eljo'sTrent (Jun 23, 2006)

*No difference*

Some people call soda coke or pop. Same thing about chinos and khakis. I prefer the term khakis.


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## gar1013 (Sep 24, 2007)

Actually, here's a great link on what khaki is, in the context of the US military, circa WWII:



So what we consider to be "khaki" isn't necessarily what it used to be. :teacha:


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Green3 said:


> could you expand on this one? Is coke a generic term for a soft drink?


Whenever a word falls into general usage the company owning the copyright on that word is in danger of losing that copyright.

For example, in the 1950's people commonly called refrigerators "frigidaires" because the Frigidaire Company was the leading producer of refrigerators. The Xerox Company was in danger of losing their copyright on this name because people would commonly refer to copying something as xeroxing it even when they weren't using a xerox copier.

The Coca Cola Company feared they were going to lose their copyright on "Coke" because people in the South called all soft drinks cokes; therefore, they forced fast food restaurants to identify their product. For example, if you asked for a large coke in a restaurant that sold Pepsi they were required to ask you if Pepsi was OK instead of Coke before making the sale. I can't tell you how many times I was asked this question over the years.

Cruiser


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## markdc (May 17, 2007)

Thom Browne's Schooldays said:


> I think the difference is undefined and arbitrary.
> 
> I call casual khakis (i.e. older ones I wouldn't wear with a sportcoat) "chinos", and nicer khakis "khakis".


That's what I do. In other words, "dress" khakis would pretty much be redundant for me.


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## Canadian (Jan 17, 2008)

My dad and grandfather, who were both Army officers (and I suppose my dad still is, technically) referred to the style as "khaki" and the colour as "kharki". Not to be confused with "mustard", "OD", field green, DPM, or any number of various uniform pieces I owned as a Cadet. My webbing was field green, the fatigues OD, the hat "rifle green", the belt "mustard", the undershirt "DPM", etc. And I'd put them all on at the same time each and every week for parade, or when out on exercise. At camp, I slept in "gumby" gear with my shoes on, and wore webbing almost 18 hours a day (canteen, mag pouch and butt pack and suspenders). 

For a Canadian soldier, to differentiate between government supplied gear and civilian supplied gear, some stuff became "issue" and others "private purchase". I'm sure it's the same in the US, because colours don't simply match, they're all unique. 

As for Chinos, I never heard of Chino until I saw the O.C. which described Ben Mackenzie's old neighbourhood as "Chino".

Thomas


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## Barrister & Solicitor (Jan 10, 2007)

When all else fails, turn to the dictionary!

Here's what my Canadian Oxford dictionary tells me:

"Chino: 1. a cotton twill fabric, usu. khaki-coloured. 2. (in pl.) trouser made from this.".

Chinos are any coloured cotton twill pants, whereas kahkis are kahki coloured chinos!

For the lawyers out there, it's like the difference between an order and a judgment!


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## Mike Petrik (Jul 5, 2005)

Barrister & Solicitor said:


> When all else fails, turn to the dictionary!
> 
> Here's what my Canadian Oxford dictionary tells me:
> 
> ...


I hardly can quarrel with the definition, which is both authoritative and consistent with my understanding. However, I object to the conclusion that khakis are therefore khaki colored chinos to the extent that it suggests that khakis are *only* khaki colored chinos. I think in narrow ordinary usage khakis can describe any casual cotton trouser the color of which is some variant of khaki, even if it is not made from chino. Moreover, in broader usage the requirement that the color be a variant of khaki would not be an element. I prefer the narrower definition in order to avoid the seemingly paradoxical existence of blue khakis, etc., but appreciate the argument that notwithstanding its origin the term is now understood to embrace most any cotton pants, esp. if designed for casual wear.

In any case, it does seem to me that if one values precision then khakis should be cotton trousers of some variation of khaki in color, and chinos should be made of chino material regardless of color. The two may overlap but neither is simply a subset of the other.


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## Pleasant McIvor (Apr 14, 2008)

Green3 said:


> could you expand on this one? Is coke a generic term for a soft drink?


If you're anywhere near Georgia, yes.


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## Saltydog (Nov 3, 2007)

clemsontiger said:


> ^I think it may be a regional thing. Growing up in the South, I too rarely, if ever, heard the term chinos, it was always khakis.


Count me as another vote for regionalism. I've lived in the South all my life and to my knowledge have never heard a Southerner refer to khakis as "chinos". When I was much younger I would read Playboy's ideal college wardrobe and they would always include chinos. I had no idea what they were. Having become enlightened, I sometimes refer to chinos only to have to explain that I'm talking about khakis.


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

Despite the rumor here and on wikipedia that "khaki" comes from Sanskrit, I cannot a related word in my Sanskrit-English dictionary. It's probably a Prakrit word, Hindi or Urdu both pop up in google searches.

I will, however, confess that my Sanskrit is rusty.


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## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

Pentheos said:


> I will, however, confess that my Sanskrit is rusty.


Perhaps WD-40 would be helpful.


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## pinkgreenpolo (Jul 15, 2005)

*wow*

Are we really going to discuss this topic again. Khakis are the color and chino is the style of trousers.


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## Beresford (Mar 30, 2006)

Pleasant McIvor said:


> Diner: "I'd like a Coke."
> 
> Waiter: "What kind?"


Exactly!!
:icon_smile_big:


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## Taken Aback (Aug 3, 2009)

Apparently.

What is most infuriating, is when a brand will have colors of "khakis", and also have a separate line of chinos as well. I've seen this more often, and there is a difference in style, although I don't know if that is standardized.



Pleasant McIvor said:


> Diner: "I'd like a Coke."
> 
> Waiter: "What kind?"


Decades ago, that was a witty aside, now it only dates the user, as people can answer that question with a number of awful Coke varieties.


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## CTD (Aug 13, 2009)

*Is it called soda or pop?*

The chino v. khakis question seems to enjoy a vigor of debate not unlike the "airplane on a conveyor belt" argument...

That said, in the absence of evidence to authenticate any claim, the simplest answer is probably the correct one. Specifically, and as I've understood it, chinos are the pants, khaki is the most popular color of chino, and given their popularity, chinos have come to be colloquially known as khakis.


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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)

Just doing searches on the digital databases of the Yale Daily News & the Cornell Daily Sun:

1. "Khakis" was used as a noun to describe khaki colored US Army uniforms during World War I and was a generic description for US Army uniforms during World War II.

Here is the first relevant mention of "Chino" in the Cornell Daily Sun








Khaki is the color; Chino is the fabric. Neither is used as a noun for pants.

Later in the early 1950's, both Khakis and Chinos become nouns meaning specifically pants. Roughly about the same time.


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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)

Chino just means a cotton twill fabric that might be used for shirts, jackets, etc.


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## Taken Aback (Aug 3, 2009)

I think the issue is how manufacturers and retailers are using and choosing to define it today.


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

I've always understood the difference to be that "chino" is the style and "khaki" is the color.


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## bd79cc (Dec 20, 2006)

Pleasant McIvor said:


> Diner: "I'd like a Coke."
> 
> Waiter: "What kind?"





Memphis88 said:


> Yeah, down here the word coke is often used instead of soft drink or pop etc. I figured everyone at least knew that we called everything coke even if they didn't do so themselves.


And I thought calling any kind of soft drink a "coke" was a San Antonio-ism!

Growing up here I always called Khakis/Chinos "khaki pants," and I called Nantucket Reds "pink jeans."


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Taken Aback said:


> I think the issue is how manufacturers and retailers are using and choosing to define it today.


I don't know if it really matters how they define it as it will still generally come down to the general public. Living in the Southern United States I still never hear anyone using the word "chinos" in conversation despite seeing it in various advertisements and store displays.

For example one day last week one of the gals in the office was telling us how her husband didn't know what to wear one day and she said that she told him to just wear some black khakis. I have a feeling that if she had said chinos most of the folks listening wouldn't have been exactly sure as to what she meant other than that they were some kind of pants.

Cruiser


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

...and exactly the opposite here in northern New England: it's always been chinos. And jeans used to be dungarees.​


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## Serenus (Jun 19, 2009)

*What the OED has to say*

According to OED2 online, the first mention of "chino" in the English language is from 1943:

T.R. St. George: "Living as we did, mostly in a life belt and a filthy pair of chinos, the one thing we needed most was a strong blast of Chanel No. 5".

A quote from 1957 lists an entry by M. B. Picken, from the "Fashion Dictionary":

"Chino cloth, cotton twill fabric of combed yarns dyed khaki color, mercerized and sanforized. Used for uniforms".

The two terms khaki and chino seem intertwined. Another quote from 1961:

"Her skirt was nicely tailored of some fine khaki material, or maybe the stuff is called chino when it joins the aristocracy".

Whereas many before me, including P Hudson, are correct in asserting that the term "khaki" comes from the British experience of colonization in India. The earliest mentions of this word appears to predate "chino" by some hundred years:

H. B. Edwards (1857): "The whole of the troops here are dressed in khakee".

And again in 1859:

Sir J. Murrary, in the Delhi Gazette: "The Infantry were dressed in khakee".

So there you have it!


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## Brooksfan (Jan 25, 2005)

Just to keep this going on what is apparently a slow news day, I grew up in the 50's and 60's in Chicago and we referred to cotton trousers worn informally as "wash pants". That included what we would now identify as poplins, chinos (twills) and corduroys. If they didn't require dry cleaning, i.e., weren't made of wool, they were wash pants. Not likely any savvy early 21st century marketeer will grab on to that moniker and build a "Nice wash pants" campaign around it.


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## zandor (Oct 17, 2016)

Reddington said:


> As a Southerner, I have always referred to them as _khakis, _regardless of color.


Growing up in Minnesota I also referred to them as khakis regardless of color, so I don't think it's a southern thing. "Chino" entered my vocabulary more recently. Maybe people just woke up and realized that calling navy blue pants khakis made no sense. Either way both terms have deviated from their original meaning, at least in clothing marketing land. Chinos and Khakis can be anything from very casual meant to be worn rumpled pants to cotton (or cotton/poly blend) dress slacks. They may have started out as tan colored military pants, but word meanings change over time and now khakis and chinos just mean "mostly cotton trousers with a smooth weave" unless khaki is combined with some other word describing the type of fabric in which case khaki means tan.


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## Himself (Mar 2, 2011)

outrigger said:


> My guess is Chinos is the European word for Khakis. I've always called Bills Khakis, Chinos, and only came across the word Khakis since joining this forum.


Not European, but hispanic slang for anyone who looks Chinese or Asian; in this case Japanese. Hispanic farm workers in southern CA came to prefer the cotton twill pants that Japanese (Chino) farmers wore -- chinos.

So the story goes.


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## xcubbies (Jul 31, 2005)

Khaki is a Hindu word for dust, which the British picked up and applied to trousers of the color we call khaki. I'm fairly sure that chinos is derived from the fabric coming from China.


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