Monkey jacket

A monkey jacket is a waist length jacket tapering at the back to a point. Use of the term has been dated to the 1850s onwards.[1]

American Civil War era sailor in a monkey jacket

Historically monkey jackets were commonly worn by sailors.

This style of jacket was named after the ones worn by monkeys that accompanied organ grinders. These similarly styled jackets were worn by the street organ monkey as they did tricks and collected coins. It was not named because sailors climbed the rigging of sailing ships.

The term is also used in the United Kingdom to describe a type of jacket worn in Mod subculture.