jerkin

noun

1. a close-fitting jacket or short coat, usually sleeveless, as one of leather worn in the 16th and 17th centuries.

noun

1. a sleeveless and collarless short jacket worn by men or women
2. a man’s sleeveless and collarless fitted jacket, often made of leather, worn in the 16th and 17th centuries

n.

1510s, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Dutch jurk “a frock,” but this is a modern word, itself of unknown origin, and the initial consonant presents difficulties (Dutch -j- typically becomes English -y-).