Shhh! The Underwear Quiz

Estimated Completion Time
1 min
Shhh! The Underwear Quiz
Image: Martin Harvey/Photolibrary/Getty Images

About This Quiz

This underwear quiz from HowStuffWorks tests your knowledge of the style, function and history of underwear. Take the underwear quiz now to see how much you know.
We're all born in the buff, and for many thousands of years, that's how we stayed. What was likely the first piece of underwear?
loincloths
bras made from branches
leaf diapers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Loincloths -- the garb of cinematic barbarians and cave men alike -- is believed to be the earliest ancestor of modern undies.

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What material were the first loincloths made from?
leather
leaves and grass
cotton
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The first loincloths were made from leather, but we're not talking about cowhide. Mankind donned these undershorts about 7,000 years ago, so they would've been made from whatever beasts were for dinner. Those beasties varied according to location and season.

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What's a shendoh?
a now-extinct animal from which early loincloths were made
an ancient Egyptian form of the loincloth
the first thong
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

A shendoh is what the ancient Egyptians called their underwear -- kind of like a combination of kilt and loincloth. The shendoh was so important that pharaohs were often buried with scores of them.

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Traditionally, a kilt is worn:
totally commando
with tights
with special boxer-like underwear
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Kilts were designed to be worn sans underwear. And while some Scots continue the commando tradition, the Scottish Tartans Authority (a group of Scotland's leading weavers and kilt retailers) condemned the practice as "childish and unhygienic" in 2010.

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What are braies?
overshorts that could be worn by both men and women
the first bras
medieval boxers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Braies are loose-fitting undergarments that were more like trousers than underwear. These medieval underpinnings reached from waist to mid-calf, were tightly laced and could be worn in public without shame.

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Which description best defines "codpiece"?
the act of stuffing loose shorts with a fish
a loincloth made from fish scales
an opening in braies, fastened with buttons or lace
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In terms of undies evolution, braies were a real step up from loincloths. But all those laces could be a problem if you needed to quickly take care of business. Codpieces gave men the freedom to urinate when and where they wanted with ease; they're the reason men's modern underwear have those convenient openings.

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What basic purpose does a corset serve?
lifting the bust
cinching the waist
both of the above
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Corsets, the undergarment that defined the Victorian era, tighten, lift and flatten portions of the female frame. This multipurpose garment was hugely popular in the 1800s ... and it was also hugely uncomfortable. Stories persist that corsets could be so constricting that they damaged some women's internal organs.

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When did the first push-up bra hit the market?
1893
1946
1966
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Your grandma's grandma's grandma might've been wearing a push-up bra! These now-indispensable undergarments first hit the market in 1893, but they didn't really pick up in popularity until the 1940s.

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Men's briefs were inspired by:
loincloths
a postcard
women's panties
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In 1934, an executive clothing designer at Coopers Hosiery Mills, Inc., received a postcard of a man in a briefs-style swimsuit. A year later, the company (which later changed its name to Jockey) debuted Jockey shorts. The clever name was to invite comparison between the support offered by its new briefs and that afforded by a jockstrap.

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OK, so briefs were inspired by a swimsuit, but what about boxer shorts? The idea for these came from:
actual shorts that boxers wore
loose-fitting slacks
briefs
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Jacob Golomb, the founder of the boxing equipment company Everlast, invented boxer shorts when he replaced the leather belt holding up pugilists' pants with an elastic waistband. However, it took a few decades for boxers' shorts to become boxer shorts -- a now perfectly respectable underwear choice.

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You Got:
/10
Martin Harvey/Photolibrary/Getty Images