A banyan (through Portuguese banian and Arabic بنيان, banyān, from the Tamil வாணியன், vaaniyan/வணிகன், vanigan, the Gujarati વાણિયો, vāṇiyo, meaning "merchant", ) is a garment worn by European men and women in the late 17th and 18th century, influenced by the Japanese kimono brought to Europe by the Dutch East India Company in the mid-17th century. "Banyan" is also commonly used in present-day Indian English and other countries in the Indian Subcontinent to mean "vest" or "undershirt".