Women’s underwear — bras, pants, slips — especially when we mean the nicer, prettier kind, not just everyday cotton. Shops and ads like this word because it sounds soft and a bit French; underwear is the plain word, and lingerie feels more elegant, or sometimes more sexy. People use it a little loosely for all women’s underclothes, though a lingerie shop is usually selling the dressed-up kind. You will see it on shop signs and gift boxes in English-speaking countries. The English pronunciation does not follow the letters: it is not “linger.” Speakers aim at a French-ish sound (roughly “lon-zhe-RAY” in American English, “lan-zhe-ree” in British). It was borrowed from French, where it first meant a cupboard for linen, then the linen clothes kept there.