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”), Danish klæder, Norwegian Bokmål klær, Norwegian Nynorsk klede, German Kleider.

Alternative forms

• cloathes (obsolete)
• clotheses (nonstandard, childish)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kləʊ(ð)z/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /kloʊ(ð)z/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Homophones: cloze, close (when /ð/ is omitted)
• Rhymes: -əʊðz, -əʊz

Noun

clothes pl (plural only)

1. (plural only) Items of clothing; apparel.
   • 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.

2. (obsolete) plural of cloth.
3. 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.

4. Laundry (hung on a clothesline).

Synonyms

• (apparel): See Thesaurus:clothing

Derived terms

• bedclothes
• change of clothes
• clothes bag
• clothes-bag
• clothes basket
• clothesbasket
• clothes-brush
• clothesbrush
• clothes brush
• clothescare
• clothes don't make the man
• clothes drier
• clothes dryer
• clothes hanger
• clotheshorse
• clothes-horse
• clothes horse
• clothes iron
• clothesless
• clothes line
• clothesline
• clothes maiden
• clothesmaker
• clothes maketh the man
• clothesmaking
• clothesman
• clothes moth
• clothespeg
• clothes peg
• clothes-peg
• clothespin
• clothes pole
• clothespres
• clothes press
• clothespress
• clothes-press
• clothes prop
• clothesprop
• clothes-prop
• clothes rack
• clothes screen
• clothes shop
• clothes stand
• clothes tree
• clothestree
• clothes valet
• clotheswoman
• clothesy
• clothesyard
• clothist
• dead-clothes
• dress clothes
• emperor's new clothes
• free clothes association
• graveclothes
• gym clothes
• long clothes
• nightclothes
• old-clothesman
• overclothes
• plain clothes
• rainclothes
• roast-meat clothes
• shortclothes
• smallclothes
• street clothes
• Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes
• swaddling clothes
• swathing clothes
• underclothes
• under clothes
• webbing clothes moth

 

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: krosi

Translations

apparel

• Afrikaans: klere (af)
• Albanian: rroba, tesha, veshje (sq) f, enë (sq)
• 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 (keyem)
• Basque: arropa
• Belarusian: адзе́жа f (adzjéža), адзе́нне n (adzjénnje)
• Bengali: পোশাক (bn) (pōśak), কাপড় (bn) (kapoṛ), বস্ত্র (bn) (bostro)
• 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
• Central Sierra Miwok: ˀyká·py-
• Chamicuro: ropa
• Cherokee: ᏧᎾᏄᏬ (tsunanuwo), ᏗᎿᏬ (dihnawo)
• Chickasaw: naafka
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 衣服 (ji¹ fuk⁶), 服裝 / 服装 (fuk⁶ zong¹), 衣著 / 衣着 (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 / 衣着 (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)
• 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)
• Greek: ρούχο (el) n (roúcho)

  Ancient: ἐσθής f (esthḗs), ἱμάτια n pl (himátia)

• Hawaiian: lole
• Hebrew: בְּגָדִים m pl (bgadím)
• Hindi: कपड़े (hi) m pl (kapṛe)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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
• Maori: kākahu, ko(w)heka
• Middle English: clething
• 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
• 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)
• Pennsylvania German: Gleeder n pl
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: پوشاک (fa) (pušâk), لِباس (lebâs)

• Polish: ubranie (pl) n, ubrania n pl, odzież (pl) m
• Portuguese: roupa (pt) f, vestuário (pt) m
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਬਸਤਰ m (bastar), ਕੱਪੜੇ m pl (kappaṛe), ਪਹਿਰਾਵਾ m (pahirāvā)

• 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

  Roman: 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
• Southern Altai: кийим (kiyim)
• 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)
• 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
• 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
• White Hmong: khaub ncaws
• Winnebago: wainį
• Yakut: таҥас (tañas)
• Yiddish: אָנטאָן n (onton), קליידער n pl (kleyder)
• Yoruba: aṣọ, ẹ̀wù
• Zhuang: buh, buhvaq

See also

• clothing
• gear
• habiliment
• threads

Etymology 2

From clothe +‎ -s.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kləʊðz/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /kloʊðz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊðz

Verb

clothes

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of clothe

References

• “clothes”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “clothes”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• cholest., closeth

Middle English

Alternative forms

• clathes, cloþes

Noun

clothes

1. plural of cloth

Descendants

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