Shoe width sizes in the US are indicated by letters.
Tell you what though, most people just worry about the length size. Big mistake! You see, if your shoes run too narrow or too wide, you might have to return them.
Perhaps, you might even have to stretch them or shrink the shoes so that they fit you better. But it does not have to get to that. You can order the right pair if you know the width and length size of your foot.
So, what does D mean in shoe sizes? For men, it is medium width, which is about 4 inches at the ball of foot area. For women, this letter means wide. Therefore, only women with wide feet should buy this size. Again, if the manufacturer does not indicate the width for mens footwear, just take it as D-medium width.
Because men have more muscle mass, they are always a number ahead of the women when it comes to feet size. However, there is no universal way of sizing up because different countries use different stats. Even different manufacturers have different methods.
What does 9.5 D mean in shoe size?
In the United States, shoe sizes are mostly shown in two – length and width. In this case, the length is 9.5 and the width is D.
If it is indicated as 9.5D (M), the m does not mean medium. It means it is a man’s shoe. In the case of width, this just means medium width.
We said that if the letter D appears alone on mens footwear, it means medium width of 4 to 4.5 inches across the ball of foot area.
If this is a shoe for women, D means it is wide, like it is for a woman with wide feet.
Which is wider M or D? If a certain width is standard to men, for women, it is extra. Therefore, between M and D, well, M is for medium width.
D is for medium width in mens footwear. Therefore, medium widths in mens and womens footwear are quite different. For a woman, a shoe indicated as medium width for men would be like extra wide for you.
Again, for the men, their footwear can be indicated as D, which means medium width or as M -it means the same thing. Therefore, number 9.5 D or 9.5M means the same thing for men.
For women, medium is indicated is B or M. Therefore, shoe size number 7.5B or 7.5M mean the same thing for women’s footwear. They mean medium width.
How much wider is EE than D?
First, there are all of 9 widths for shoes in the USA. Therefore, after the medium width which is D, there is E and then there is EE.
If you wear shoes with width size EE, your feet are quite wide and therefore, they will most likely not fit in the D size and vice versa. E for men means wide and therefore the additional E means extra wide.
For women, we said D is wide. Therefore, E would be extra wide for them. If a woman wear size D, the size EE will feel many times too wide for their feet.
The width sizes start at A, which means narrow. This is for children mostly. If you add an extra A, it means the boots are extra narrow.
Men’s shoes widths start at B, D, EE and EEEE. These are abbreviated as N for narrow, M for medium, W for wide and WW for extra wide. Sometimes, the extra wide can also be abbreviated as XW or EW.
Women’s width sizes start at 4A OR AAAA, AA or 2A, B, D and 2E or EE. These are super narrow, narrow, medium, wide and extra wide.
Conclusion
What does D mean in shoe sizes? It depends from which manufacturer you are buying and whether you are a man or a woman. However, while wide for men is different from wide for women, some men have narrow feet, so they can wear women’s widths and vice versa.
When ordering your footwear online, check on the product descriptions to see whether it will be fit enough for your feet. If you don’t know your width, you can measure.