There were plenty of pieces of upper-body garments/clothing, which had a hood, before the 'hoodie'.
Was it simply that no one had thought of the name up until then? Or was there something different/special about the 'hoodie'?
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If I recall correctly, "hoodies" were preceded by several decades in U.S. English by "footie pajamas." – Sven Yargs Jan 9 '18 at 7:04
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The OED says "A hooded sweatshirt, fleece, or other garment.", and therein lies the answer, I think.
A hoodie is a "hooded sweatshirt" or "hooded fleece", (in contradistinction to the original kind of each, which had no hood) and the abbreviation is natural.
As far as I know "hooded coat" or "hooded raincoat" have never become established phrases, and so have not become "hoodies". This may be because on an outer garment (especially a raincoat) a hood is unremarkable, whereas on a sweatshirt it is much more distinctive; but that bit is speculation.
answered May 18 '11 at 12:54
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I also believe that hoodie also originated in the inner city or perhaps surfing/snowboarding subcultures. So maybe hoodie, meaning perhaps "from the [neighbor]hood" was part of the naming calculus. (At one time, homey was used in the inner city to refer to a friend from the neighborhood.) – Wayne May 18 '11 at 17:05
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2That it got its own name is a testament both to its popularity and, I'd say, the fact that most of the time the hood is purely decorative, making it more of a fashion feature than hoods on coats. – Matthew Frederick May 18 '11 at 17:56
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@Wayne I agree but suspect that there might also be a link to the old slang term hood for a gangster since many of the adopters of the hoodie were either gangsters or adopted what they thought of as gangster style. – BoldBen Jan 9 '18 at 3:55
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@MatthewFrederick One of the aspects of hoodie wearers (as opposed to the wearers of hooded sweatshirts) is that the hood is worn up most of the time to make the person less identifiable and more menacing. It also has the effect of depersonalising the members of a gaggle of youths even if they aren't genuine gang members. – BoldBen Jan 9 '18 at 4:03
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@BoldBen True, and also it's changed somewhat in the last 7 years. In many situations that's absolutely the case, and is certainly more prevalent now than back in 2011 (when I commented). Back then, hoods had appeared on a strange variety of shirts and jackets, where they were more of a fashion goodie than of practical use. – Matthew Frederick Jan 10 '18 at 22:42
Hoodie is simply a diminutive of hooded sweatshirt.
-ie and -y are very common diminutive suffixes in English, used for just about any word to convey "a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment." (Wikipedia)
Other common examples include:
- Movies for motion picture
- Booties for ankle-length boots or shoes worn by infants
- Panties for female unmentionables (which have now been mentioned)
It seems to me that the word came into use with the increased popularity of the garment itself: when the "hooded sweatshirt" became ubiquitous, people could not be bothered to use the full name.
