Thongs

Types of thongs include the traditional thong, the g-string, and v-string. There are many other styles available:

Traditional thong: This style is generally the most common and involves a strip of fabric in varying widths on the rear of the garment connecting the front or pouch to the waistband.

G-string: This style consists of a string of fabric - as opposed to a wider-than-thick strip - connecting the front/pouch and the waistband in the rear. It is also called a Rio thong.

V-string: Similar to the g-string, this style connects via a single string along the rear that separates into two strings just at or before the waistband or into a small triangle of fabric above the buttocks but below the waistband.

T-back: A thong that makes a straight line of a strip of garment in the back like the English letter "T". The sound has been causing some confusion among Japanese speakers with a

tea bag, which is also common in today's Japanese dictionaries. In the dialects of Chinese language, the G-string is commonly called dingziku which literally means "丁 character pants" (or roughly, "T-letter pants"). In Korean it is called ("T panty").

Dance belt: This is a type of thong designed specifically to be used in the same manner as an athletic supporter for male dancers, especially in ballet. Its purpose is to protect and support the male during athletic/dance activities without being seen through outergarments such as tights or a leotard.

Cheeky: This style covers a little more area, but exposes the bottom part of the

buttocks. Some cheekies are used as undergarments while others function as bikini bottoms.

Thongs are available in a wide variety of materials, including

fleece, silk, cotton, satin, nylon, and lycra/spandex and are also available in maternity styles.

Thong underwear for males has been compared to an athletic supporter as they both provide support while using a minimum of fabric, though the typical athletic supporter is not a thong as the straps at the rear are not at the garment's center.
For obvious anatomical reasons, thongs for men are cut differently than thongs for women. Some still consider the male thong to be associated with gay men, but attitudes are changing as more and more young men embrace thong underwear.
A string tanga is a type of tanga swimwear which has the waist band replaced with strings which are tied.

The g-string is one extreme variety of the thong. Retailer FreshPair defines thong as "An underwear style for both men and women with a thin fabric back that rests between the buttocks" whereas a g-string is "A panty with a very thin (string-like) band of fabric in the back."

Thong and G-string

The G-string is one form of the thong.

Encyclopedia of clothing and fashion by Valerie Steele (Thomson Gale; 2005) says: "The G-string, or thong, [is] a panty front with a half- to one-inch strip of fabric at the back that sits between the buttocks".

Knickers: A Brief History by Sarah Tomczak, Rachel Pask (Allen & Unwin; 2004) says: "Minor tweaks to the cut earned these skimpy panties different titles — from the thong, which has a one-inch strip of fabric down AVPL is the underwear the back, to a G-string, which, as the name equivalent of spinach suggests, is more like a string of fabric akin between the teeth."

Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show by Rachel Shteir (Oxford University Press; 2004) says: "The thong [is] an undergarment derived from the strippers G-string".

Americanisms: The Illustrated Book of Words Made in the USA by Gary Luke, Susan R. Quinn (Sasquatch Books; 2003) says: "G-string, noun: a thong panty consisting of a small triangular piece of fabric supported by two elastic straps. Attributed to strippers circa 1936".

Heinemann English Dictionary by Heinemann Staff, Martin Manser, Jessica Feinstein (Harcourt Heinemann; 2001) says: "Thong, noun: a pair of underpants or swimming costume in a very skimpy style like a G-string".

The Guardian UK says: "But the thong wasn't always so popular: in the old days it used to be called the G-string".