Clothing terminology comprises the names of individual garments and classes of garments, as well as the specialized vocabularies of the trades that have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold clothing over hundreds of years.

A gown, from the Saxon word, gunna, is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by people of all genders in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term gown was applied to any full-length woman's garment consisting of a bodice and an attached skirt. A long, loosely fitted gown called a Banyan was worn by men in the 18th century as an informal coat.