Pattens were clogs, overshoes or sanals, held on the foot by leather or cloth bands, often with a wooden sole or metal device to elevate the foot and increase the wearer's height or aid in walking in mud. They were worn during the Middle Ages outdoors and in public places beneath the thin soled shoes of the day. The word probably derives from the Old French pate meaning hoof or paw. For women they continued to be worn in muddy conditions, until the nineteenth or even early 20th century.