Can “pyjamas” be used as a generic term for all sleepwear?

20 comments

1. I use pyjamas to mean whatever I am wearing to sleep in!

2. Yes. Sleepwear is some abomination of a word only to be found in twee retail establishments, and probably ignores underpants and things that people actually wear to sleep in.

   Also if your child complains about being told to put pyjamas on because they only have a nightdress, you can justifiably tell them to stop.being wilfully obtuse.

   Ergo, pyjamas is a general term.

3. Pyjamas for me are the specific (usually) cotton-based top and bottom items of sleepwear.

   But there are variations.
   Traditional long-sleeved button-up shirt with cotton trousers. Long-sleeved t-shirt, short-sleeved t-shirt or vest with cotton trousers. Ladies can also have shorts with the variants of the above tops. These can all count as PJs.

   I’d say nighties are obviously not pyjamas.

   Neither are boxers and a tee or boxers and vest – that’s just underwear + a top.

4. I think if I was just in bottoms I’d be in pyjama bottoms. I’d see pyjamas as a set with a top and bottoms, a bit like a tracksuit.

   If you search for “pyjama bottoms” you are going to get just the bottoms without the top.

5. I thought it meant like a dress thing of top and bottoms.

   Sleepwear could be just sleeping in your boxers.

   I didn’t sleep till 5am last night because of the heat so I’d hate to think how bad it was wearing pyjamas 🤣

6. Likewise all alcoholic drinks are beer – as in “Do you fancy a beer?”

   What flavour of beer you have is the *subsequent* choice. One does not “Pop down the Dog for a quick wine”.

7. Jim jams are more a state of mind than a garment.

8. No.. is a nightie pyjamas? No it isn’t.. same applies to everything else that isn’t pyjamas.. they all have their own names for a reason..

9. To me pyjamas are a combination of bottoms and or a top, either short or long. People sometimes sleep in their underwear, some people sleep in a nightie and I wouldn’t call either of those pyjamas.

10. Interesting. Now I think about it, PJs and jammies are generic to me, but pyjamas indicates specifically a top and bottom (of any sort or material) to me.

11. I say yes, it’s lazy but harmless

12. A nightdress is not pyjamas.

13. No.

    Pyjamas are Pyjamas. Anything else is just stuff you wear to bed.

14. For shopping purposes, or whenever you need to be specific, pyjamas refer to trousers or shorts and a top to match, specifically designed for sleeping in.

    But if you say something like “bring pyjamas because we’re staying overnight,” it wouldn’t be wrong to bring a nightie, an oversized t-shirt, trackies, or whatever you want to sleep in.

15. Yes. I wear boxers to bed and consider them pyjamas, so yes.

16. Possibly.

    For example, when a school sends a kit list home for an overnight trip, they might put “pyjamas” but expect to see a mixture of pyjamas, onesies and nighties.

    But if a person was taken into hospital unexpectedly and asked someone else to bring their “pyjamas”, I think they’d expect to be given a two-piece set including a top and some bifurcated bottoms.

17. I use pyjamas as a general term, but have more specific things in that category, like nighties etc

18. No. “Nightwear” is the generic term. This is important, so that when I tell parents to send their kids on camp with pyjamas, we don’t end up with kids wandering around butt-naked in the middle of the night, because that’s how they sleep at home.

19. Pyjamas mean pyjamas.

20. Pyjamas means general sleepwear to me. Whatever you regularly and on purpose wear to sleep in.