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衣服 (yī fu) — clothes

Definition

衣服 (yīfu) is the everyday, general word for 'clothes' — it covers everything you wear. 服装 is more formal and used in writing; 上衣 only means an upper garment like a jacket or shirt.

noun
clothes
Measure word · 件, 套

Examples

  • 衣服。
    Wǒ mǎi le yí jiàn yī fu.
    I bought an item of clothing.
  • 衣服。
    Zhè jiàn yī fu hěn hǎo.
    This piece of clothing is nice.
  • 衣服。
    Wǒ yǒu sān jiàn yī fu.
    I have three pieces of clothing.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

衣yīgarment
服fúclothing

衣 and 服 both refer to garments, so their pairing names clothing in general.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 衣 comes from an outline of the chest and upper clothing.

Open 衣 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
凡凡fántray
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠬝
𠬝𠬝服fú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 服, the part 𠬝 was the original picture for 'to subdue'; the added left part 凡, a tray, later changed shape.

Open 服 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 1500 Most Frequent Chinese WordsHSK 2.0 Level 11000 Most Frequent Chinese WordsClothing2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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