Ankle High: Ankle high stockings, also known as ankle socks or anklets, are a type of hosiery that covers the foot and extends up to just above or at the ankle. These stockings are designed to provide coverage and protection primarily for the feet, while being short enough to be discreet under many types of shoes, including loafers, sneakers, and dress shoes.

Anti-Embolism Stockings (TED Hose): Medical-grade compression stockings, usually white or beige and knee- or thigh-length, prescribed after surgery or bed rest to reduce the risk of blood clots. TED stands for thrombo-embolic deterrent.

Argyle Tights: Tights patterned with the diamond-check argyle motif, usually knitted or printed in contrasting colors.

Back Seam: A visible seam running up the back of the leg, standard on stockings before circular knitting machines made seamless hose possible. Now used mainly as a retro or fashion detail.

Barely Black: A very dark, smoky sheer shade with just enough black cast to read as gray-black on the leg rather than true black.

Bleaching: The chemical or mechanical process used during manufacturing to remove natural coloration, oils, or impurities from fibers, resulting in a clean, uniform, and lighter base color before dyeing or finishing.

Bodystocking: A one-piece sheer garment extending from the shoulders or torso down through the legs, combining the coverage of pantyhose with a bodysuit.

Cable Knit Tights: Tights knit in a raised, twisting rope-like pattern reminiscent of cable-knit sweaters, usually in heavier, more casual yarns.

Capri Tights: Tights that end mid-calf, between footless tights and full length, typically worn with cropped trousers or as warm-weather legwear.

Circular Knit: The tubular machine-knitting method used for seamless hosiery, producing fabric with inherent stretch in every direction.

Compression Class (I–IV): A medical grading of compression strength, roughly Class I (15–20 mmHg, mild) through Class IV (40+ mmHg, extra firm), used to match hosiery to a prescribed level of support.

Compression Hosiery: Medical or athletic hosiery engineered to apply measured pressure, in mmHg, to the leg, most often graduated to be tightest at the ankle and progressively looser up the leg.

Control Top: A control top is a type of hosiery that features an elastic waistband and a tight, supportive fit that helps to smooth the curves of the body. Control tops are often worn as undergarments to provide shaping and support and to help prevent panty lines from showing through clothing.

Cotton Gusset: A small cotton, rather than nylon, panel sewn into the crotch of pantyhose and tights for breathability and hygiene.

Crotch Panel: The fabric section joining the two legs of pantyhose at the body, often reinforced or made of a double layer for strength.

Cuban Heel: Cuban heel hosiery is a style of women's stockings or pantyhose that features a distinctive and reinforced heel design. This design is characterized by a squared-off, rectangular shape at the back of the heel, contrasting with the more common tapered or pointed heel seen in traditional hosiery.

Dance/Ballet Tights: Footed tights in light pink or nude shades, knit in a durable matte yarn; some are "convertible," with a back-seam opening that lets a dancer push the foot down to go barefoot without removing the tights.

Denier: A unit of yarn weight equal to the mass in grams of 9,000 meters of the fiber. In hosiery it indicates thickness and opacity, from sheer 5–15 denier up through opaque 60–100+ denier and heavier "thermal" weights.

Fishnet: A type of women's legwear or hosiery characterized by its distinctive open, diamond-shaped, or hexagonal pattern, which resembles a fishing net, hence the name "fishnet."

Flat Knit: Hosiery knit as a flat panel and then seamed, used for fully fashioned stockings and some fine-gauge specialty items.

Footless Pantyhose: A type of hosiery that extends from the waist down but stops at or above the ankles, leaving the feet exposed. They are similar to leggings but are typically made from lighter, sheer, or semi-sheer materials commonly used for traditional pantyhose.

French Heel (Point Heel): A heel reinforcement shaped like an inverted V or keyhole, another traditional vintage stocking style.

Fully Fashioned: Stockings knit flat and shaped to the leg's taper, then seamed up the back. Considered the premium, most leg-hugging construction before seamless knitting became standard.

Garter Belt: A garter belt is a piece of lingerie or undergarment to hold up stockings. It consists of an elasticized belt that is worn around the waist and typically has attached suspender straps or garters that hang down. These straps are designed to attach to the tops of stockings to keep them in place, preventing them from slipping down the legs.

Garter Clip (Suspender Clip): The metal or plastic fastener at the end of a garter strap, gripping the stocking's welt to hold it in place.

Gauge: The number of needles, or stitches, per 1.5 inches of knitting width. Higher gauge means finer, denser stitches and a smoother sheer fabric; lower gauge produces a coarser, more casual knit.

Graduated Compression: A pressure gradient built into compression hosiery, strongest at the ankle and decreasing toward the knee or thigh, to help push blood back toward the heart.

Gusset: A reinforced fabric panel, often diamond- or triangle-shaped, inserted at the crotch for durability, fit, and ease of movement.

Herringbone / Houndstooth Tights: Tights woven or printed with these classic broken-check patterns, borrowed from suiting fabric.

Jet Black: The deepest, truest black shade of hosiery dye, giving maximum opacity and contrast.

Knee High Stockings: A type of hosiery that covers the legs from the feet up to just below the knees. They are designed to provide partial leg coverage while leaving the thighs exposed.

Lace-Top Hold-Ups: Thigh-high stockings finished with a decorative lace band instead of a plain elastic or silicone welt.

Layering: Refers to the practice of wearing multiple pairs of pantyhose or stockings simultaneously, one on top of the other.

Maternity Pantyhose: Pantyhose cut with an extended, stretchable panel over the abdomen to accommodate pregnancy without added pressure.

Matte Finish: A non-reflective surface finish, common in opaque tights, that diffuses light rather than shining.

Microfiber: Nylon or polyester yarn spun into filaments finer than typical hosiery fiber, used for opaque tights that feel soft and lightweight despite their high coverage.

Nude / Suntan: Pale-to-medium beige shades of sheer hosiery formulated to approximate skin tone, historically the default "invisible" hosiery shade.

Nylons: Colloquial term, coined after DuPont's 1940 launch of nylon stockings, for sheer hosiery in general. Also used narrowly for classic seamed or seamless nylon stockings of the wartime-into-1950s era.

"Nylons" (WWII slang): The everyday American term for stockings that emerged after nylon replaced silk in 1940. Wartime nylon shortages made nylons a prized, sometimes black-market commodity.

Off-Black: A near-black shade with a slight brown or gray undertone, softer than jet black.

One-Size (One-Size-Fits-Most): Hosiery knit with enough stretch to fit a broad range of heights and weights without separate sizing, common in basic sheer pantyhose.

Opaque: Opaque hosiery refers to a type of women's legwear or hosiery that is characterized by its thick and non-transparent appearance. Unlike sheer hosiery, which allows the skin to show through, opaque hosiery is made from denser and more tightly woven materials, which effectively block the view of the skin underneath.

Open Crotch: Open crotch pantyhose is a type of hosiery that features a deliberate opening or opening in the crotch area. Unlike traditional pantyhose, which provide full coverage from the waist down to the toes, open-crotch pantyhose has a design element that leaves the crotch area exposed.

Open Toe: Hosiery that are designed without fabric covering the toes, leaving the toes partially or fully exposed.

Pantyhose: A one-piece garment combining sheer or opaque hose with an attached panty portion, worn from waist to toe. It has been the standard everyday style in North America since the 1960s, replacing separate stockings and garter belts.

Panty Portion (Panty): The built-in, brief-like section at the top of pantyhose that replaces a separate garter belt and underwear.

Ply: The number of individual yarn strands twisted together to form the knitting thread. Multi-ply yarns are typically used in heavier tights for added durability and opacity.

Pointed Heel: a specific style of heel detailing where the reinforcement stitching tapers down to a point at the back of the heel. This design feature is typically found in finer, more traditional types of stockings or pantyhose, such as those used for formal wear. The pointed heel, also known as a French heel, adds an elegant and vintage aesthetic to the hosiery, enhancing its appearance when worn with open-back shoes.

Polka Dot Tights: Sheer or semi-sheer tights printed or knit with a repeating dot pattern.

Queen Size/ Plus Size: Pantyhose and tights cut with a larger panty portion and proportionally wider leg to fit larger body types, sized separately from standard ranges.

Reinforced Heel: Extra knitting density at the heel to resist wear from shoes, common in trouser socks and everyday pantyhose.

Reinforced Toe: Stockings or pantyhose that have an extra layer of fabric added to the toe area to increase durability and prevent runs or tears. This reinforcement is typically thicker than the material used on the rest of the hosiery and is designed to withstand the wear and tear that comes from constant contact with shoes.

Ribbed Hosiery: Hose knit with raised vertical ridges — alternating knit and purl columns — giving extra stretch and a textured look.

Run (Ladder): A vertical line of unraveled stitches that spreads along the length of the hose after a snag breaks a thread in the knit.

Run-Resistant (Ladder-Resistant): Hosiery knit or treated so that a broken stitch doesn't travel, containing the damage to a small area instead of laddering the whole leg.

Spandex/ Elastane / Lycra: A highly elastic synthetic fiber — Lycra is a brand name for it — blended with nylon in most modern hosiery to add stretch and recovery so the garment holds its shape and fit.

Sandalfoot (Sheer Toe): A toe finished in the same sheer yarn as the leg, with minimal or no reinforcement, designed to be invisible when worn with open-toed shoes.

Sandal Toe: A type of stockings or pantyhose that have a sheer, invisible reinforcement in the toe area. This design allows them to be worn seamlessly with open-toed shoes or sandals.

Seamless Hosiery: Hose knit in the round on a circular knitting machine, producing a continuous tube with no back seam — the standard construction for modern pantyhose.

Semi-Sheer (Semi-Opaque): Mid-weight hosiery, roughly 20–40 denier, offering a soft, slightly veiled look — more coverage than sheer but less than opaque.

Shaping Hosiery: Pantyhose or tights engineered with varying knit density over the torso, thighs, or seat to smooth and contour the body, similar to shapewear.

Sheer: Sheer hosiery refers to a type of women's legwear or hosiery that is designed to be transparent, see-through, or semi-opaque in appearance.

Shimmer: Sheer hosiery finished with a light-reflecting or metallic-flecked yarn for a subtle glow on the leg.

Sheer-to-Waist: Sheer-to-waist pantyhose is a type of legwear or hosiery that provides a nearly transparent appearance from the waist down to the toes. Unlike traditional pantyhose, which has a reinforced brief or panty portion, sheer-to-waist pantyhose is designed to be consistent in sheerness from the waistband to the toes, creating a smooth, uninterrupted look on the legs.

Silk Stockings: The standard hosiery material before nylon's 1940 debut. Sheer, expensive, and prone to runs, silk was largely replaced by nylon for its lower cost and greater durability.

Snag: A pulled thread or loop caused by catching on a rough surface, often the first step toward a run.

Spandex/ Elastane / Lycra: A highly elastic synthetic fiber — Lycra is a brand name for it — blended with nylon in most modern hosiery to add stretch and recovery so the garment holds its shape and fit.

Stay-Up Band (Silicone Band): A wide band lined with silicone strips at the top of hold-ups, gripping the skin so the stocking stays in place without a garter belt.

Stay Ups: Stay-up stockings, also known as hold-up stockings or thigh-high stockings, are a type of women's hosiery designed to stay in place without the need for garters or a garter belt. Stay-up stockings feature a special elasticized or silicone band at the top that grips the thigh and prevents them from slipping down.

Stirrups: Stirrups hosiery is a type of women's legwear or hosiery that features a unique design element known as stirrups. Unlike traditional stockings or tights, which cover the entire foot, stirrups hosiery leaves the foot exposed while providing coverage for the legs.

Stockings: A stocking is a garment worn on the leg and above the ankle. Stockings are a type of clothing that is made from a thin fabric, such as nylon or silk, and is worn on the legs.

Support Hosiery: Hosiery knit with mild, even compression throughout the leg to reduce fatigue and swelling during long periods of standing or sitting.

Thigh Highs: Stockings that stay up on their own via a wide elasticated or silicone-gripped band at the top, without needing a garter belt.

Tights: Footed or footless leg coverings knit from thicker, more opaque yarn than pantyhose — typically cotton-, wool-, or nylon-blend — worn for warmth or as a solid-color fashion layer rather than sheer hosiery.

Toe Seam: The seam closing the toe of the hose. It may be flat, closed, or left visible depending on the construction.

Trouser Socks: Reinforced knee-high or mid-calf hosiery made specifically to be worn under trousers, giving a more opaque, sock-like look than sheer pantyhose.

Tummy Control Panel: A firmer, higher-coverage panel built into the front waistband area of shaping pantyhose, extending support over the lower abdomen.

Twist Yarn: Filament yarn given a tight spiral twist before knitting, which improves elasticity, opacity, and run resistance compared with flat, untwisted filament.

Waistband: The elasticized band at the top of pantyhose or tights. May be a plain "comfort" band or a wider "control" band that adds shaping.

Welt: The thicker, stronger knitted band at the top edge of the stocking, designed to provide structure, comfort, and grip.

Zokki: Knit using covered elastane (spandex) yarns throughout the entire garment, allowing the fabric to stretch evenly in all directions without distinct size panels.