How to say “clothes” in 31 languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
It is commonest in Chinese, where 衣服 is the 121st most used word.
- Afrikaans klere clothes, clothing #656
- Armenian հագուստ clothes, clothing #843
- Basque jantzi clothes, clothing #354
- Bengali পোশাক clothes, clothing #680
- Bosnian veš clothes, especially underwear #2,495
- Chinese 衣服 clothing; clothes; laundry #121
- Dutch kleren #877
- English dress To put clothes on; to clothe #928
- Esperanto vestojn clothing, clothes, outfit #1,642
- Galician roupa clothing, clothes #599
- Georgian ტანსაცმელი clothes, attire #1,018
- Hebrew שלמה clothes, dress #1,267
- Hungarian ruhát #1,642
- Icelandic föt #688
- Indonesian pakaian clothes; clothing #659
- Korean 옷 clothing; clothes #363
- Latvian drēbes #1,144
- Macedonian облека clothing, clothes #717
- Malay pakaian clothes; clothing #502
- Norwegian klær #1,030
- Portuguese roupa clothing, clothes #841
- Serbian veš clothes, especially underwear #2,155
- Spanish ropa garment, clothing, clothes, robes #645
- Swedish kläder clothes, garments, items of clothing #848
- Tagalog lampin swaddling clothes; baby's breechcloth #426
- Tamil உடை clothes, garment, dress #1,012
- Telugu దుస్తులు #265
- Turkish elbise piece of clothing, clothes #1,406
- Ukrainian одяг clothes, clothing, garments #1,367
- Urdu لباس clothes, clothing, attire #619
- Vietnamese lột to strip off clothes #1,905
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.