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In American English, shirt can refer to almost any upper-body garment other than coats, especially in menswear (the term "top" is more common in ladieswear). In British English, although the loose, American usage is becoming common, a shirt is more specifically a garment with a collar, cuffs, and a full vertical opening with buttons; what is known in American English as a dress shirt.

Kinds of shirts

shirt or dress shirt — a shirt with collar and full vertical opening with buttons; left and right sides of this shirt meet with the placket front.
- blouse — lady's shirt; the term is also used for some men's military uniform shirts.
- Hawaiian shirt or Aloha shirt — a colourful short-sleeve dress shirt, loose or not fitted and woven from very light fabric. Often informal. Also just called a "tropical shirt."
- guayabera — an embroidered dress shirt with four pockets.
T-shirt — a casual shirt without a collar or buttons, usually short-sleeved.
- halfshirt — a high-hemmed t-shirt.
- tank top — a sleeveless T-shirt.
  - A-shirt or construction shirt — essentially a sleeveless t-shirt with large armholes, often worn by labourers or athletes for increased movability. Sometimes called a "wife beater" when worn without a covering layer.
  - camisole — woman's undershirt with narrow straps, or a similar garment worn alone (often with bra). Also referred to as a cami, shelf top, spaghetti straps or strappy top.
tennis shirt, golf shirt, or polo shirt — a v-neck shirt with a full collar; opening often closed with buttons or zipper running partway down the front. Short or long sleeve. Sometimes embroidered with club or designer insignia. Often worn with a sweater vest.
- rugby shirt — typically a rugged long-sleeved polo shirt, of thick cotton or wool.
baseball shirt — usually distinguished by a three quarters sleeve, team insignia, and flat waistseam.
sweatshirt — long-sleeved athletic shirt of heavier material, with or without hood.
tunic — primitive shirt, distinguished by two-piece construction. Initially a men's garment, is normally seen in modern times being worn by women.
nightshirt — often oversized, ruined or inexpensive light cloth undergarment shirt for sleeping.
Sleeveless Shirt — A shirt with no sleeves. Contains only neck, bottom hem, body, and sometimes shoulders depending on type.

Tops which would generally not be called shirts:

tube top or boob tube — a shoulderless, sleeveless "tube" that wraps the torso (not reaching higher than the armpits, staying in place by elasticity or by a single strap that is attached to the front of the tube.
halter top — a shoulderless, sleeveless, backless garment for women. It is mechanically analogous to an apron with a string around the back of the neck and across the lower back holding it in place.
onesie or diaper shirt — a shirt for infants which includes a long tail that is wrapped between the legs and buttoned to the front of the shirt.
sweaters, heavy knitted upper garments
jackets coats and similar outerwear.
smoking jacket

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Parts of shirts

Many terms are used to describe and differentiate types of shirts and their construction. The smallest differences may have significance to a cultural or occupational group. Recently, (late 20th century) it has become common to use tops to carry messages or advertising. Many of these distinctions apply to other upper-body garments, such as coats and sweaters.

Shoulders and arms

- with no covering of the shoulders or arms — a tube top (not reaching higher than the armpits, staying in place by elasticity
- with only shoulder straps
- covering the shoulders, but without sleeves
- with short sleeves
- with half- or three-quarter-length sleeves
- with long sleeves, may further be distinguished by the cuffs:
  - no buttons. See closed placket cuff.
  - buttons (or analogous fasteners such as snaps) — single or multiple. A single button or pair aligned parallel with the cuff hem is considered a button cuff. Multiple buttons aligned perpendicular to the cuff hem, or parallel to the placket constitute a barrel cuff.
  - buttonholes designed for cufflinks.
    - a french cuff, where the end half of the cuff is folded over the cuff itself and fastened with a cufflink. This type of cuff has four buttons and a short placket.
    - More formally, a link cuff is worn. A link cuff is fastened like a french cuff, except is not folded over, but instead hemmed, at the edge of the sleeve.

Lower hem of shirt

- leaving the belly button area bare (much more common for women than for men). See halfshirt.
- hanging to the waist
- covering the crotch
- covering part of the legs (essentially this is a dress; however, a piece of clothing is either perceived as a shirt (worn with trousers) or as a dress (in Western culture mainly worn by women)).

Body

- vertical opening on the front side, all the way down, with buttons or zipper. When fastened with buttons, this opening is often called the placket front.
- similar opening, but in back.
- left and right front side not separable, put on over the head; with regard to upper front side opening:
  - V-shaped permanent opening on the top of the front side
  - no opening at the upper front side
  - vertical opening on the upper front side with buttons or zipper
    - men's shirts are often buttoned on the right whereas women's are often buttoned on the left.

Neck

- with polo-neck
- with v-neck but no collar
- with plunging neck
- with open or tassel neck
- with collar
  - windsor collar— or spread collar, a dressier collar designed with a wide distance between points (the spread) to accommodate the windsor knot tie. The standard business collar.
  - tab collar — a collar with two small fabric tabs that fasten together behind a tie to maintain collar spread.
  - wing collar — best suited for the bow tie, often only worn for very formal occaisions.
  - straight collar — or point collar, a version of the windsor collar that is distinguished by a narrower spread to better accommodate the four-in-hand knot, pratt knot, and the half-windsor knot. A moderate dress collar.
  - button-down collar — A collar with buttons that fasten the points or tips to a shirt. The most casual of collars worn with a tie.
  - band collar — essentially the lower part of a normal collar, first used as the original collar to which a separate collarpiece was attached. Rarely seen in modern fashion. Also casual.
  - turtle neck collar A collar that covers most of the throat.
- without collar
With regard to pockets: how many (if any), where, and with regard to closure: not closable, just a flap, or with a button or zipper.
With or without hood

Some combinations are not applicable, of course, e.g. a tube top cannot have a collar.

Toplessness is the opposite of wearing a shirt of some kind, or a bikini top, etc. This is sometimes considered a kind of nudity, especially in the case of women.