Sneakers

Sneakers are a type of footwear with a flexible sole made of rubber or synthetic material and an upper part made of leather or canvas. Sneakers were originally sporting apparel, but today worn much more widely as casual footwear. They can also refer to athletic footwear like basketball shoes, tennis shoes, cross trainers and other shoes worn for specific sports. The British English equivalent of "sneaker" in its modern meaning is "trainer", while the traditional "sneaker" (pictured) is closer to the British "plimsoll". In some urban areas in the United States, the slang for sneakers is kicks. In Hiberno-English, Canadian English and Australian English the term is runners or sneakers. In South African English the term used is tackies. The name "sneakers" originally referred to how quiet the rubber soles were on the ground, in contrast to noisy standard hard leather soled dress shoes. Someone wearing sneakers could "sneak up" on you.

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source: wikipedia.org