Why is it called a 'pair of pants'?

Pantaloons consisted of two pieces.

pair of legs one pant for each leg

Because a single pant, or pantaloon, is a garment covering only one leg. They used to be used in pairs, thus forming the pair of pants.

At some point, clothing sales realised that nobody bought single pants, so they started to be exclusively sold as pairs. And because it's far more convenient to fabricate it as a single item, they only exist as one item today, called a "pair of pants". Because they are, at their core, two pants sewn together.

Like the tooth brush was named in Mississippi, if it was named anywhere else it would have been called a teeth brush

Because they started as pantaloons and were a pair. ( I read waaayyyy too much )

Because one leg is considered a pant

2 legs.

They originated as individual leg covers that would tie on to some kind of belt

Were scissors at one time sold as two pieces?

I’ve never called it a pair of pants. Although mind you, I’m talking about underwear (panties) rather than trousers…

It didn't start off as only one item.

It’s the weird grammar rules of English at work. Maybe because each part that covers your keg could technically be considered a “pant,” and because we have 2 legs, if that’s the case, then I guess I could say it makes perfect sense for them to be called a pair of pants (unless you aren’t from North America and usually when you say or hear “pants,” you think of underwear instead).

My parents did that, calling them a pair, but all my life it's always been pants, not pair of pants.

And I'm old. (50)

Cause you have a pair of legs…

Because there are 2 legs in a pair of pants?

I wonder if they go with a pair of shoes lingo and it stuck trough out time?

It used to be more common for people to be missing a leg or one shortened due to rickets and polio so haberdashers charged by the leg /s

Same as a pair of scissors