Shopping for jeans should not be made any harder by complicated cuts. Once you arm yourself with the knowledge of what the different cuts mean, jeans shopping will feel a whole lot easier. Here’s what they are.

Flare

These jeans quite literally flare out at the bottom. Also known as bell bottoms.

Skinny

These jeans get narrower at the bottom and are tight around the ankles.

Boot

These jeans are somewhere in between flare and skinny—they aren’t tight around the ankles, but they aren’t as wide as the flares. They’re usually just wide enough to comfortably go over a boot.

Straight

If you fold straight jeans in half across the shin, the bottom half will match up to the top half exactly. Skinny jeans will have a smaller bottom half, and flare/boot jeans will have a larger bottom half.

Boyfriend

Like you stole them from a boyfriend, these jeans fit looser through the hips and thighs than traditional women’s jeans.