Breeches (pronounced /ˈbrɪtʃɨz/ "breeches", "britches") are an item of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. The breeches were normally closed and fastened about the leg, along its open seams at varied lengths, and to the knee, by either buttons or by a draw-string, or by one or more straps and buckle or brooches. Formerly a standard item of Western men's clothing, had fallen out of use by the early 20th Century in favor of trousers. Modern athletic garments used for English riding and fencing called breeches differ substantially from breeches as discussed in this article.

Breeches is a double plural known since c. 1205, from Old English (and before Old French) brēc, the plural of brōc "garment for the legs and trunk", from the Proto-Germanic word *brōkiz, whence also the Old Norse word brók, which shows up in the epithet of the Viking king Ragnar Loðbrók, Ragnar "Hairy-breeches". The Proto-Germanic word also gave rise, via a Celtic language, to the Latin word bracca; the Romans, who did not generally wear pants, referred to Germanic tribes as braccati, "wearers of breeches" (or rather, of fabric wrapped around the legs.)