Undergarments, also called underwear, are clothes worn next to the skin, usually under other clothes.
Undergarments are worn for a variety of reasons: warmth and hygiene are the most common reasons. Undergarments are often used for modesty or erotic display: sometimes both of these motivations are simultaneously present.
Wearing underwear in public is considered an intermediate form between being socially acceptably dressed and being nude. Of course this does not apply for (under)shirts und shorts that are suitable as underwear but also as outer clothes.
Sometimes undergarments can have religious significance, for example in the special garment worn by followers of the LDS Church (Mormons).
Not wearing underpants under the clothes is called freeballing; for females the term freebuffing is sometimes used.
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