Hosiery refers to knitted coverings for the feet and legs, like socks, stockings, and tights.

When you pull on a pair of socks before school, you're wearing hosiery. Tights that dancers wear, the long stockings that were part of colonial-era clothing, and even modern athletic socks all count as hosiery. The term covers everything from ankle socks to knee-highs to full-length tights.

In stores, you might see a section labeled hosiery where these items are sold together. The word sounds formal because it's often used in business contexts: a hosiery manufacturer makes socks and stockings, while a clothing store might have a hosiery department.

For most of history, people knitted hosiery by hand, which took hours of careful work. The invention of the knitting machine in the 1500s revolutionized hosiery production, making socks and stockings affordable for ordinary people instead of only the wealthy. Today, hosiery is so common that most people own dozens of pairs without thinking twice about it.