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)

(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.
(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: 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 (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 (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)
Pashto: البسه f pl (albesá), نواري m pl (nawārí)
Pennsylvania German: Gleeder n pl
Persian: لباس (fa) (lebâs), پوشاک (fa) (pušâk)
Polish: ubranie (pl) n, ubrania n pl, odzież (pl) m
Portuguese: roupa (pt) f, vestuário (pt) m
Punjabi: 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: کپڑے m pl (kapṛe), لباس (libās), پوشاک (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

Etymology 2

From clothe +‎ -s.

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

“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

plural of cloth

Descendants

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