パンプス

English pumps is the source form for Japanese パンプス. In American English, pump means a low-cut dress shoe, often for women; British English commonly uses court shoe for the same footwear type. The English plural pumps names the pair, and Japanese borrowed that plural-looking form as one category name, as it also did with ジーンズ. The route is fashion vocabulary, especially Shōwa Japan, 1926-1989, when department stores, magazines, and office dress codes sorted women's shoes into types. パンプス stood beside ハイヒール, サンダル, ミュール, and ローファー. The meaning narrowed toward women's low-cut shoes, often with heels, rather than every low-cut shoe covered by older English usage. Postwar office wear in the 1950s and 1960s helped stabilize the category. In present Japanese, パンプス usually means a woman's closed-toe or open-side dress shoe for work, ceremonies, or formal clothing. It does not normally mean water pumps, athletic pump shoes, or every flat slip-on. English uses pump for one shoe and pumps for a pair; Japanese パンプス has no plural grammar and is counted with 足. Shoe-store labels often separate パンプス from ブーツ and スニーカー. Example: 黒いパンプスを一足買った.