Young Curly Blonde Girl Wearing A White Chemise In The Blue Studio

The term chemise or shift can refer to the classic smock, or else can refer to certain modern types of women's undergarments and dresses. In the classical usage it is a simple garment worn next to the skin to protect clothing from sweat and body oils, the precursor to the modern shirts commonly worn in Western nations.
Etymology
Chemise is a French term (which today simply means shirt). This is a cognate of the Italian word camicia, and the Spanish / Portuguese language word camisa (subsequently borrowed as kameez by Hindi /Urdu/ Hindustani), all deriving ultimately from the Latin camisia, itself coming from Celtic. (The Romans avidly imported cloth and clothes from the Celts.) The English called the same shirt a smock and the Irish called it a léine (Irish pronunciation: /l̠ʲeːnʲə/). For an alternative etymology from Persian via Arabic and ultimately Greek, rather than Latin roots, refer entry under Kameez.