Lederhosen ("leather trousers" in German; singular: "Lederhose") are knee-breeches (knickerbockers or shorts) made of leather. The word Lederhosen is frequently misspelled Leiderhosen (literally, "sadly-breeches"), or Liederhosen ("songs-breeches"). The proper German pronunciation is /leːdə.hoːzən/.
In English both /ˈleɪdɚhoʊzən/ and ˈliːdɚhoʊzən are used. Traditionally, lederhosen were worn by Germanic men of the Alpine and surrounding regions, including Austria, the highlands and mountains of Southern Germany, the German-speaking part of Italy's province of Bolzano-Bozen (formerly part of Austria until after World War I) but not Switzerland. The areas in Western Austria and Northern Italy are known as Tyrol and lederhosen are a characteristic of this region.