pea jacket

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ˈpea ˌjack•et, n. [countable]

1. Clothing a short, double-breasted coat of navy-blue wool, originally worn by seamen.

Also called pea•coat /ˈpiˌkoʊt/.  

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

pea′ jack′et, 

1. Clothing a short coat of thick wool, usually double-breasted and navy in color, worn by seamen, fishermen, etc.
2. Clothing a jacket or short coat styled like this, worn by adults and children. Also called peacoat, pea coat. 
• 1715–25, American; pea, variant spelling, spelled of pay, pee, pie coat of coarse woolen cloth (late Middle English pee, pey, pie; akin to Dutch pij, dialect, dialectal Frisian pey, dialect, dialectal Swedish paje) + jacket; perh. modeled on Frisian (north, northern dialect, dialectal) pijekkat

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

pea jacket, peacoat / ˈpiːˌkəʊt/ noun

1. a sailor's short heavy double-breasted overcoat of navy wool

Etymology: 18th Century: from Dutch pijjekker, from pij coat of coarse cloth + jekker jacket