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{{Short description|Simple T-shaped or sleeveless garment, usually unfitted, of archaic origin}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox clothing item
| image_file    = Coptic - Tunic - Walters 83484.jpg
| caption       = [[Coptic textiles|Coptic]]-[[Byzantine clothing|Byzantine]] wool tunic, small enough for a child (6th century) ([[Walters Art Museum]])
| type          = clothing reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the ankles
| material      = [[fabric]]
}}
A '''tunic''' is a [[clothing|garment]] for the [[torso]], usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the ankles. It might have arm-sleeves, either short or full-length.  Most forms have no fastenings. The name derives from the [[Latin]] ''[[:wikt:tunica|tunica]]'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in [[Ancient Rome]], which in turn was based on earlier [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] garments that covered wearers' waists.

The term is likely borrowed from a [[Semitic languages|Semitic word]] *''kittan'' with [[metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]]. The word [[khiton]] ({{langx|grc|χῐτών}}) is of the same origin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haupt |first1=Paul |title=The Book of Canticles |journal=The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures |date=1902 |volume=18 |issue=4 |page=226-7 |doi=10.1086/369453 |jstor=527750 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/527750  |issn=1062-0516}}</ref>

==Ancient era==
===Roman tunic===
The [[Roman Empire|Roman]] ''tunica'' was adopted by Roman citizens in the [[3rd century BC]]E. It was often worn by [[Roman citizen]]s and by non-citizens alike.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radicke |first=Jan |title=Roman Women's Dress |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110711554-017/html |chapter=1 tunica – Roman tunica and Greek chiton |date=2022-11-07 |pages=243–276 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-071155-4 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110711554-017}}</ref> However, citizens might wear it under the [[toga]], especially at formal occasions.

The length of the garment, the presence or lack of stripes, as well as their width and ornamentation, would indicate the wearer's status in Roman society. [[Roman senators]], for example, used the ''[[laticlavus]]'', with broad purple stripes, and members of the equestrian class wore the ''[[Angusticlavia]]'', with narrower stripes. Soldiers, slaves and manual workers generally had tunics to a little above the knee; those in more sedentary occupations to about the ankle (unless they were expecting to ride a horse, when a shorter one would be worn).<ref>{{cite book | title=Tratado de declamación o arte dramático | publisher=Editorial Fundamentos. | author=Bastús y Carrera, Vicente Joaquín | year=2008 | location=Madrid | pages=253 | isbn=9788424511326|oclc = 228041839}}</ref>

[[File:Tunikaklädd romersk arbetare, Nordisk familjebok.png|thumb|upright|Roman worker dressed in a tunic]]

The tunic or chiton was worn as a shirt or gown by all genders among the ancient Romans. The body garment was loose-fitting for males, usually beginning at the neck and ending above the knee. A woman's garment could be either close fitting or loose, beginning at the neck and extending over a skirt or skirts.

===Greek tunic===
{{See also|chiton (garment)|exomis}}
Tunics were also worn in [[ancient Greece]], whence the Roman version was adopted. Later Greek and Roman tunics were an evolution from the very similar [[chiton (garment)|chiton]], [[chitoniskos]], and [[exomis]], each of which can be considered versions of the garment. In ancient Greece, a person's tunic was decorated at the hemline to represent the [[polis]] (city-state) in which he lived. Tunics might be dyed with bright colours like red, purple, or green.

There was also the ''sisúra'' ({{lang|grc|σισύρα}}), which according to Pollux was a tunic with sleeves of skins.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities">{{cite web |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PELLIS |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=pellis-cn |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> According to the [[Suda]], it was a type of inexpensive [[cloak]], like a one-shoulder tunic.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/240#si.487 Suda, si.487]</ref> The ''[[A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities|Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities]]'' mentions that it seems to have been more of a cloak than a tunic, and was worn for warmth or used to sleep in.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities"/> According to the same source, late authors may use the term to mean a piece of cloth.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities"/>

===Celtic tunic===
Tunics worn by the [[Celts]] were documented by the Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus]]:

{{quote|[T]he way they dress is astonishing: they wear brightly coloured and embroidered shirts, with trousers called [[braccae]] and cloaks fastened at the shoulder with a [[brooch]], heavy in winter, light in summer. These cloaks are striped or checkered in design, with the separate checks close together and in various colours.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html|title=The Celts|website=www.ibiblio.org|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://exploringcelticciv.web.unc.edu/diodorus-siculus-library-of-history/|title=Diodorus Siculus, Library of History - Exploring Celtic Civilizations|website=exploringcelticciv.web.unc.edu|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref>}}

===Germanic tunic===
[[File: Thorsberg Tunic.jpg|thumb|200px|Germanic tunic of the 4th century AD found in the [[Thorsberg moor]]]]
The various [[Celts|Celtic]] and [[Germanic peoples]] living in the colder Middle and Northern Europe wore long-sleeved tunics from as long back as pictorial evidence goes. Such tunics are often found depicted on the various Roman monuments depicting victories over these peoples and show the tunic as a simple pull-over construction reaching to the mid-thighs or the knees. Similar tunics were eventually taken up by the Romans and continued to be used into the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]].

After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], the long-sleeved Celto-Germanic tunic continued to be worn. The construction was more elaborate than the earlier Graeco-Roman garment, with a tight-fitting neck with a split down the front for pulling it over the head, and [[gusset]] under the arms and inserted around the lower half to give a flaring skirt. Being used by both [[Vikings]] and [[Normans]], the garment continued as a general male garment into the [[Middle Ages]], still being used in Norway as late as the 17th century.

=== Indian tunic ===
[[Indus valley civilization]] figurines depict both women and men wearing a tunic-like garment. A [[terracotta]] model called Lady of the Spiked Throne depicts two standing [[turban]]-wearing men wearing what appears to be a conical [[gown]] marked by a dense series of thin vertical incisions that might suggest stiffened cloth. A similar gold disc in the al-Sabah Collection from the [[Kuwait National Museum]] appears to be from the Indus Valley civilization and depicts similar conical tunic-wearing men holding two bulls by their tails under a [[Ficus religiosa|pipal tree]] shown in an Indus-like mirror symmetry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Spiked-Throne.pdf|title=The lady of the spiked throne, The power of a lost ritual|last=Vidale|first=Massimo|date=2011|website=harappa.com|access-date=3 December 2018}}</ref> A mother goddess figurine from the 
[[National Museum, New Delhi]], shows a female wearing a short tight tunic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/prodCollections.asp?pid=34&id=1&lk=dp1|title=National Museum, New Delhi|website=nationalmuseumindia.gov.in|access-date=2018-12-02}}</ref>

Worn in the [[Indian subcontinent]], including [[India]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Bangladesh]], the tunic is usually referred to as [[kurta]]. An Asian tunic is typically adorned with delicate embroidery, bead-work or intricate threadwork as well. Embroidery or thread work on such tunics usually combines threads of many different colors.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Zia|first1=Batool|title=Dare to be Different? Try a Kurti or Tunic|url=http://www.easternthings.com/blogs/east/19174251-dare-to-be-different-try-a-kurti-or-tunic|website=www.easternthings.com|access-date=15 April 2015|archive-date=26 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626111333/https://www.easternthings.com/blogs/east/19174251-dare-to-be-different-try-a-kurti-or-tunic|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Vietnamese tunic ===
{{Further information|Áo dài}}
Vietnamese tunics are called {{lang|vi|[[áo dài]]}} ({{lit|long shirt}}),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ao-dai|title=Definition of ao dai &#124; Dictionary.com|website=www.dictionary.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/ao-dai|title=Ao dai definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary|website=www.collinsdictionary.com}}</ref> is a traditional garment worn by both men and women, it was derived from {{lang|vi|[[áo ngũ thân]]|italic=no}} ({{lit|five-piece shirt}}).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lieu|first=Nhi T.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/741749415|title=The American dream in Vietnamese|date=2011|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-7671-2|location=Minneapolis|pages=60|oclc=741749415}}</ref>
It is similar to the [[kurta]] of the [[Indian subcontinent]] countries because they are both forms of clothing consisting of a long split tunic worn over trousers.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bach |first=Trinh |date=2020 |title=Origin of Vietnamese Ao Dai |url=https://vjol.info.vn/index.php/ncpt-hue/article/view/54470/45091 |access-date=2023-07-23}}</ref>

In the 18th century, in an attempt to separate his domain from [[Tonkin]] ruled by his rival [[Trịnh lords|Trịnh clan]] and build an independent state, {{lang|vi|[[Nguyễn Phúc Khoát]]|italic=no}} (reigned 1738–1765) forced his subjects to change their style of dress.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Howard|first=Michael C.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/933520702|title=Textiles and clothing of Viet Nam : a history|date=2016|isbn=978-1-4766-6332-6|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|pages=73|oclc=933520702}}</ref> The {{lang|vi|[[áo giao lĩnh]]|italic=no}} ({{lit|cross-collar robe}}) replaced by a robe with fasteners, which was buttoned in the front, and had an upright collar,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Howard|first=Michael C.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/933520702|title=Textiles and clothing of Viet Nam : a history|date=2016|isbn=978-1-4766-6332-6|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|pages=83|oclc=933520702}}</ref> the skirt was also replaced by trousers.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Fiona|title=A Brief History of Traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai|url=https://www.vietnamvisa-easy.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-traditional-vietnamese-ao-dai/|access-date=2021-06-30|website=Travel information for Vietnam from local experts|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=All about ao dai: Vietnam's national dress|url=https://vietnam.travel/things-to-do/ao-dai-vietnam|access-date=2021-06-30|website=Vietnam Tourism}}</ref> This new style of dress became the prototype of the {{lang|vi|áo dài|italic=no}}; it was a form of {{lang|vi|áo ngũ thân|italic=no}} which was invented by {{lang|vi|Nguyễn Phúc Khoát|italic=no}}; the {{lang|vi|áo ngũ thân|italic=no}} also had 5 flaps instead of 4 (the 5th flap was small and was found under the front garment) and 5 buttons.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-19|title=Áo Dài's Timeless Beauty|url=https://culturemagazin.com/ao-dais-timeless-beauty/|access-date=2021-06-30|website=CultureMagazin®|language=en-US|archive-date=22 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622080756/https://culturemagazin.com/ao-dais-timeless-beauty/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Under the rule of {{lang|vi|[[Minh Mạng]]|italic=no}}, two new forms of {{lang|vi|áo dài|italic=no}} were created from the {{lang|vi|áo ngũ thân|italic=no}} regulated by {{lang|vi|Nguyễn Phúc Khoát|italic=no}}: the {{lang|vi|[[áo tứ thân]]|italic=no}} ({{lit|four-piece shirt}}) and the {{lang|vi|Huế|italic=no}}-style {{lang|vi|áo dài|italic=no}} which was created with five flaps. The {{lang|vi|Huế|italic=no}}-style {{lang|vi|áo dài|italic=no}} represented royal court culture of the {{lang|vi|[[Phú Xuân|Huế]]|italic=no}} and later developed influenced the modern {{lang|vi|áo dài|italic=no}}.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=The Vietnamese "Áo dài" {{!}} Tập San Việt Học|url=http://viethocjournal.com/2018/11/the-vietnamese-ao-dai/|access-date=2021-06-30|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Medieval tunic==
{{Main|Byzantine dress|Early medieval European dress}}
The tunic continued to be the basic garment of the [[Byzantine dress|Byzantine Romans]] of both sexes throughout the medieval period. The upper classes wore other garments atop the basic tunic, such as the [[dalmatic|''dalmatica'']], a heavier and shorter type of tunic, again, worn by both sexes, or the ''scaramangion'', a riding-coat of Persian origin. Except for the military or riding dress, men and women of higher status wore tunics that came down to the ankles, or nearly so. Tunics were often dyed or richly embroidered, although the plainer ones could be used when layering different types.

Beyond the reduced empire, the tunic continued to be worn with varying sleeve and hem lengths throughout Europe during the [[Middle Ages]]. Often reaching the knees or ankles, it was usually worn over underclothes consisting of a shirt (usually hip-length or longer) and drawers (usually knee- or ankle-length pants related to braccae). It may be accompanied by [[Hose (clothing)|hose]].<ref>"Dress and Adornment", 488–489.</ref> [[Wool]] and [[linen]] were common fabrics used, though the wealthy sometimes wore fancy [[silk]] tunics or a lesser fabric with silk trim. In English the garment was referred to as a ''sark'', and this word survives in some northern UK dialects to mean a shirt or chemise.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/sark|title=Etymology of ''sark''|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>

Tunics worn during the [[Early Middle Ages]] often featured decorative [[embroidery]] or [[tablet weaving|tablet-woven braids]] along the neck, hem and wrists.<ref>"Dress and Adornment", 489.</ref><ref name="OC">Owen-Crocker, Gale R., ''Dress in Anglo-Saxon England'', revised edition, Boydell Press, 2004, {{ISBN|1-84383-081-7}}</ref> This was the case, for instance, with tunics worn by both rich and poor [[Anglo-Saxons]] before the [[Norman Conquest]].<ref name="OC" /><ref>Bradfield, Nancy. ''Historical Costumes of England: 1066–1968''. 3rd Edition. 1970. p. 13</ref>

==Modern tunic==
{{See also|Tunic (military)}}
[[File:Abraham b. Abraham Yitzhak Halevi and family.jpg|thumb|20th-century [[Yemenite Jews]] dressed in tunics]]

Around [[1830s in fashion|1830]], small boys began to be dressed in sashed or [[Belt (clothing)|belted]] tunics over trousers, a fashion which replaced the earlier [[skeleton suit]].

During the [[Crimean War]] in the 1850s, it was realized that the waist length jackets which had been worn by British soldiers since Napoleonic times were unsuitable for fighting in winter conditions. A new longer jacket was introduced which reached down to the mid thigh and this was named the '[[Tunic (military)|tunic]]' after the 'tunica' of the intrepid ancient Roman soldier. This type of jacket soon became standard for most armies.<ref>Nicholson, J. (1974). ''The British Army of the Crimea''. Osprey.</ref>

In Western culture, its use continues primarily in a [[religious]] and [[uniform]] context. It is the primary garment worn by the [[clergy]] and members of [[religious order]]s. The religious tunic reaches to the feet and was the source of the clerical [[cassock]], as well as, in its [[liturgy|liturgical]] form, the [[alb]], after the long tunic worn by Roman citizens.<ref>Pocknee, C. E. (1960). ''Liturgical Vesture: Its Origins and Development''</ref> 'Tunic' is also the name often given to the high-collar uniform [[coat (clothing)|coat]] worn by [[military]] and [[police]] personnel. Light feminine garments, especially for sports or exercise, usually only coming down to mid-thigh, are also called tunics.

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
*[[1830s in fashion#Children's fashion|1830s children's fashion]]
*[[1840s in fashion#Children's Fashion|1840s children's fashion]]
*[[1850s in fashion#Children's fashion|1850s children's fashion]]
*[[Anglo-Saxon dress]]
*[[Clothing in ancient Rome]]
*[[Clothing in the ancient world]]
*[[Coat]]
*[[Dashiki]]
*[[Dress]]
*[[Early medieval European dress]]
*[[Gymslip]]
*[[Kaftan]]
*[[Kurta]]
*[[Robe]]
*[[Seamless robe of Jesus]]
*[[Shalwar kameez]]
*[[T-shirt]]
*[[Thawb]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
* "Dress and Adornment." ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. 15th edition. Volume 17. 1994.

==Further reading==
* Payne, Blanche: ''History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century'', Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; {{OCLC|223437}}.
* Radicke, Jan: ''[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110711554/html Roman Women's Dress]'', De Gruyter, 2022.

{{Historical clothing|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Roman legionary equipment]]
[[Category:Dresses]]
[[Category:Greek clothing]]
[[Category:Tops (clothing)]]
[[Category:Medieval European costume]]
[[Category:Men's clothing]]