clothes

See also: cloþes

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English clothes, cloþes (plural of cloth, cloþ (“cloth, garment”)), from Old English clāþas (“clothes”, plural of clāþ (“cloth”)), equivalent to cloth +‎ -es. Cognate with Scots clathes, claes (“clothes”), Dutch klederen, kleren (“clothes”), German Kleider (“clothes”), Danish klæder (“clothes”), Swedish kläder (“clothes”), Norwegian Bokmål klær (“clothes”), Norwegian Nynorsk klede (“clothes”), Faroese klæði, klæðir (“clothes”).

Alternative forms

cloathes (obsolete)
clotheses (nonstandard, childish)

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kləʊ(ð)z/
- Audio (UK): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /kloʊ(ð)z/
- Audio (US): (file)
- Audio (US): (file)
(Scotland) IPA^(key): /klo(ð)z/
(Wales, without the toe–tow merger) IPA^(key): /kloː(ð)z/
Homophones: cloze, close (when /ð/ is omitted)
Rhymes: -əʊðz, -əʊz

Noun

clothes pl (plural only)

(plural only) Items of clothing; apparel.
suit of clothes.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
  Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white.
(obsolete) plural of cloth.
The covering of a bed; bedclothes.
- 1717, Matthew Prior, The Dove:
  She turned each way her frighted head, / Then sunk it deep beneath the clothes.
Laundry (hung on a clothesline).

Synonyms

(apparel): See Thesaurus:clothing

Derived terms

Descendants

Sranan Tongo: krosi

Translations

apparel

Afrikaans: klere (af)
Albanian: ndresa, tesha, veshje (sq) f, rroba
Altai:
Southern Altai: кийим (kiyim)
Arabic: مَلَابِس f (malābis), ثِيَاب f (ṯiyāb), كِسْوَة f (kiswa)
Egyptian Arabic: هدوم (hudūm), لبس m (libs)

Gulf Arabic: ملابس (malābis), هدوم (hdūm)

Hijazi Arabic: ملابس (malābis), حوايج (ḥawāyij)

Moroccan Arabic: حوايج (ḥwāyij)

North Levantine Arabic: تياب (tyāb)

South Levantine Arabic: أواعي (ʔawāʕi), ملابس m (malābes), تياب (tyāb)
Armenian: հագուստ (hy) (hagust), զգեստ (hy) (zgest)
Aromanian: vishtimintu n, nviscãmindu n, stranj n, stranjiu n, alãxãmintu n, stoli, custumi
Asturian: ropa f
Azerbaijani: geyim (az), paltar (az), libas, əyin
Bashkir: кейем (kejem)
Basque: arropa
Belarusian: адзе́жа f (adzjéža), адзе́нне n (adzjénnje)
Bengali: পোশাক (bn) (pōśak), কাপড় (bn) (kapoṛ), বস্ত্র (bn) (bostro)
Bikol:
Central Bikol: bado
Bulgarian: облекло́ (bg) n (oblekló), дре́хи (bg) pl (dréhi), оде́жда (bg) f (odéžda) (church vestment)
Burmese: အဝတ်အစား (my) (a.wat-a.ca:)
Catalan: roba (ca)
Cebuano: sinina
Chamicuro: ropa
Cherokee: ᏧᎾᏄᏬ (tsunanuwo), ᏗᎿᏬ (dihnawo)
Chickasaw: naafka
Chinese:
Cantonese: 衣服 (ji¹ fuk⁶), 服裝 / 服装 (fuk⁶ zong¹), 衣著 (ji¹ zoek³), 衣着 (ji¹ zoek³), 衫褲 / 衫裤 (saam¹ fu³), 衫 (saam¹)

Dungan: йишон (yišon), йифу (yifu)

Eastern Min: 衣裳 (ĭ-siòng)

Hakka: 服裝 / 服装 (fu̍k-chông), 衫褲 / 衫裤 (sâm-fu)

Hokkien: 衣服 (i-ho̍k), 服裝 / 服装 (zh-min-nan) (ho̍k-tsong), 衫褲 / 衫裤 (saⁿ-khò͘), 衫仔褲 / 衫仔裤 (zh-min-nan) (saⁿ-á-khò͘), 衫 (zh-min-nan) (saⁿ)

Mandarin: 衣服 (zh) (yīfu), 服裝 / 服装 (zh) (fúzhuāng), (colloquial) 衣裳 (zh) (yīshang), 衣著 (zh) (yīzhuó), 衣着 (zh) (yīzhuó)

Wu: 衣裳
Cornish: dillas (collective)
Crimean Tatar: urba
Czech: oblečení (cs) n, šaty (cs) pl
Danish: tøj (da) n, klæder pl (formal), beklædning c
Dolgan: таӈас (taňas)
Dutch: kleren (nl) pl
Esperanto: vestaĵo (eo)
Estonian: kehakate, riided, riietus
Faroese: klæði n pl
Fataluku: faru
Finnish: vaate (fi)
French: vêtements (fr), fringues (fr)
Galician: vestimenta (gl) f
Georgian: ტანსაცმელი (ṭansacmeli)
German: Kleider (de) n pl, Kleidung (de) f (both rather formal); Anziehsachen (de) f pl, Klamotten (de) f pl (both informal); Gewand (de) (Austria)
Greek: ρούχο (el) n (roúcho)
Ancient Greek: ἐσθής f (esthḗs), ἱμάτια n pl (himátia)
Hawaiian: lole
Hebrew: בְּגָדִים m pl (bgadím)
Hindi: कपड़े (hi) m pl (kapṛe), लिबास (hi) m (libās), पोशाक (hi) f (pośāk)
Hmong:
White Hmong: khaub ncaws
Hungarian: ruha (hu), ruhák (hu)
Icelandic: föt (is) n pl
Ido: vesti (io), vestaro (io)
Ilocano: bado
Indonesian: pakaian (id)
Irish: éadach m
Istriot: vesteîti
Italian: vestiti (it) m pl, abbigliamento (it) m
Japanese: 衣服 (ja) (いふく, ifuku), 服 (ja) (ふく, fuku), 衣類 (ja) (いるい, irui)
Javanese: panganggo (jv)
Jeju: 옷 (ot)
Kalmyk: хувцн (xuvtsn)
Kapampangan: malan
Karachay-Balkar: кийим (kiyim)
Karaim: kijit́
Kazakh: киім (kiım)
Khakas: кип (kip)
Khmer: ខោអាវ (khao ʼaaw), អាវ (km) (ʼaaw)
Konkani: आउंगाले (āungāle)
Korean: 옷 (ko) (ot), 의복(衣服) (ko) (uibok)
Kumyk: гийим (giyim)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بەرگ (berg), جل (cil)

Northern Kurdish: cil (ku), kinc (ku), cilûberg (ku), libas (ku), çek (ku)
Kyrgyz: кийим (ky) (kiyim)
Lao: ສົ້ງເສື້ອ (song sư̄a), ເສື້ອຜ້າ (sư̄a phā), ເຄື່ອງນຸ່ງ (khư̄ang nung)
Ladin: guant m
Latin: vestīmenta n pl, vestītus m (4th decl.), vestis f (mass noun), velāmen n (mass noun, poetic)
Latvian: drēbes f pl
Lithuanian: apranga f
Macedonian: облека (mk) f (obleka)
Malay: pakaian (ms)
Maltese: ħwejjeġ pl
Māori: kākahu, ko(w)heka
Mauritian Creole: linz
Middle English: clething
Miwok:
Central Sierra Miwok: ˀyká·py-
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: хувцас (mn) (xuvcas), хунар (mn) (xunar)
Mudburra: abaaba
Navajo: ééʼ
Nepali: कपडा (ne) (kapaḍā)
Ngarrindjeri: mayinggar
Nogai: кийим (kiyim)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: klær (no) pl, bekledning f
Occitan: vestit (oc) m, rauba (oc) f
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: одежда f (odežda)
Old English: clāþas m pl, wǣd
Oromo: uffata
Ossetian: дарӕс (daræs), уӕлӕдарӕс (wælædaræs), дзаума (ʒawma)
Pannonian Rusyn: шмати f pl (šmati), облєчиво n (oblječivo)
Pashto: البسه f pl (albesá), نواري m pl (nawārí), لباس m (lebās), پوشاک (ps) m (pošāk)
Pennsylvania German: Gleeder n pl
Persian:
Dari: پوشَاک (fa) (pōšāk), لِبَاس (fa) (libās)

Iranian Persian: پوشاک (fa) (pušâk), لِباس (lebâs)
Polish: ubrania nvir pl, odzież (pl) f
Portuguese: roupa (pt) f, vestuário (pt) m
Punjabi:
Gurmukhi: ਬਸਤਰ m (bastar), ਕੱਪੜੇ m pl (kappaṛe), ਪਹਿਰਾਵਾ m (pahirāvā), ਪੁਸ਼ਾਕ m (puśāk), ਪੋਸ਼ਾਕ m (pośāk)
Quechua: p'acha
Romani: gada m pl
Romanian: haine (ro) f pl, îmbrăcăminte (ro) f, rufe (ro) f pl
Russian: оде́жда (ru) f (odéžda), одёжа (ru) f (odjóža) (colloquial, dated)
Scottish Gaelic: aodach m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: о̏дећа f, о̏дјећа f, о̀дежда f

Latin: ȍdeća f, ȍdjeća f, òdežda (sh) f
Sidamo: uddano
Slovak: oblečenie n, šaty pl, oblek m
Slovene: obleka (sl) f, perílo n
Somali: lebis
Sotho: diaparo
Spanish: ropa (es) f, trapos (es) m pl (derogatory)
Sranan Tongo: krosi
Swahili: nguo (sw) class 10
Swedish: kläder (sv) c pl
Tagalog: kasuotan, damit (tl)
Tajik: либос (tg) (libos), пӯшок (püšok)
Tamil: உடுப்பு (ta) (uṭuppu), உடை (ta) (uṭai), ஆடை (ta) (āṭai), துணி (ta) (tuṇi)
Tarifit: arruḍ m
Tatar: кием (tt) (kiyem)
Thai: เสื้อผ้า (th) (sʉ̂ʉa-pâa)
Tibetan: ན་བཟའ (na bza'), དུག་སློག (dug slog)
Tocharian B: wastsi
Tofa: кедім (kedim)
Tok Pisin: klos
Tongan: vala
Turkish: giyim (tr), giysi (tr), örtüler (tr)
Turkmen: geýim, egin-eşik
Ukrainian: о́дяг (uk) m (ódjah), оде́жа f (odéža), о́діж f (ódiž)
Urdu: کَپْڑے m pl (kapṛe), لِباس m (libās), پوشاک f (pośāk)
Urum: кийим (kiyim), т'ийим (t́iyim)
Uyghur: كىيىم (ug) (kiyim)
Uzbek: kiyim (uz), libos (uz)
Vietnamese: quần áo (vi), đồ (vi)
Welsh: dillad (cy) pl, dilledyn (cy) m
West Flemish: klêers pl
Winnebago: wainį
Woiwurrung: gugarra
Wolaytta: maayuwa
Wolof: yéré
Yakut: таҥас (taŋas)
Yiddish: אָנטאָן n (onton), קליידער n pl (kleyder)
Yoruba: aṣọ, ẹ̀wù
Zhuang: buh, buhvaq

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /kləʊðz/
Audio (UK): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /kloʊðz/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -əʊðz

Verb

clothes

third-person singular simple present indicative of clothe

References

William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “clothes”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
“clothes”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

cholest., closeth

Middle English

Alternative forms

clathes, cloþes

Noun

clothes

plural of cloth

Descendants

English: clothes
Scots: clathes, claes, clais, claise