cloth

English

Alternative forms

• cloath (obsolete)
• clath, clathe, claith (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English cloth, clath, from Old English clāþ (“cloth, clothes, covering, sail”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþą (“garment”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleit- (“to cling to, cleave, stick”). Cognate with Scots clath (“cloth”), North Frisian klaid (“dress, garment”), West Frisian kleed (“cloth, article of clothing”), Dutch kleed (“robe, dress”), Low German kleed (“dress, garment”), German Kleid (“dress, garment”), Danish klæde (“cloth, dress”), Swedish kläde (“cloth”), Icelandic klæði (“cloth, dressing”), Old English clīþan (“to adhere, stick”). Compare Albanian ngjit (“to stick, attach, glue”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: klŏth, IPA: /klɒθ/, X-SAMPA: /klQT/
• (US) enPR: klôth, kläth, IPA: /klɔθ/, /klɑθ/, X-SAMPA: /klOT/, /klAT/
• Rhymes: -ɒθ

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

cloth (plural cloths or clothes (obsolete))

1. (uncountable) A woven fabric such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, The Lisson Grove Mystery^[1]:

     “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”

2. A piece of cloth used for a particular purpose.
3. A form of attire that represents a particular profession.
4. (in idioms) Priesthood, clergy.

Synonyms

• (woven fabric): material, stuff
• See also Wikisaurus:fabric

Derived terms

terms derived from "cloth"

cheesecloth cut from the same cloth dishcloth facecloth horsecloth loincloth

man of the cloth sackcloth tablecloth take the cloth washcloth whole cloth, from whole cloth, out of whole cloth wire cloth

Related terms

• clothe, clothes, clothing

Translations

woven fabric

• Acholi: bɔŋɔ
• Armenian: կտոր (ktor)
• Basque: mantar (eu)
• Bulgarian: платно (bg) (platno) n, сукно (bg) (sukno) n
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 布 (cmn) (bù)

• Czech: látka (cs) f
• Danish: stof (da) n
• Dutch: doek (nl) n, kleed (nl) n
• Esperanto: ŝtofo (eo)
• Finnish: kangas (fi)
• French: tissu (fr) m, étoffe (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Stoff (de) m, Tuch (de) n
• Greek: ύφασμα (el) (ýfasma) n
• Hebrew: בד (he) (bad) m
• Hindi: कपड़ा (hi) (kapṛā) m
• Hungarian: ruha (hu)
• Irish: éadach (ga) m, anairt (ga) f
• Italian: stoffa (it) f, tessuto (it) m
• Japanese: 布 (ja) (ぬの, nuno)
• Kalenjin: sret
• Kazakh: мата (kk) (mata)
• Kikuyu: nguo

• Korean: 천 (ko) (cheon)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: cil (ku) m, libas (ku), cilûberg (ku)

• Latgalian: audaklys m, drēbe f
• Latvian: audums (lv) m
• Luhya: engubo
• Malay: kain (ms)
• Navajo: naakʼaʼatʼą́hí
• Neapolitan: veste
• Pashto: ټوكر (ps) (ttukər) m
• Polish: materiał (pl) m, tkanina (pl) f
• Portuguese: pano (pt) m, tecido (pt) m
• Romanian: pânză (ro) f, stofă (ro) f
• Russian: ткань (ru) (tkan') f, материя (ru) (mat'érija) f
• Scots: cloot
• Scottish Gaelic: aodach (gd) m
• Spanish: tela (es) f
• Swahili: nguo (sw), vazi (sw)
• Swedish: tyg (sv) n
• Tagalog: tela
• Turkish: kumaş (tr)
• Urdu: کپڑا (ur) (kapṛā) m
• Vietnamese: vải (vi), vải vóc (vi)
• Yiddish: געוועב (yi) (geveb) n

a piece of cloth

• Armenian: շոր (šor)
• Bulgarian: парцал (bg) (parcal) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 衣服 (cmn) (yīfú)

• Danish: tøj (da) n, klæde (da) n
• Dutch: vod (nl) f
• Finnish: vaate (fi)
• French: tissu (fr) m
• German: Kleidungsstück (de) n
• Greek: ύφασμα (el) (ýfasma) n, πανί (el) (paní) n
• Hebrew: בד (he) (bad) m
• Irish: éadach (ga) m, anairt (ga) f
• Italian: panno (it) m, straccio (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: cil (ku) m, libas (ku), cilûberg (ku)

  Sorani: په‌ڕۆ (ku) (perro)

• Navajo: naakʼaʼatʼą́hí
• Norwegian: stoff (no) n
• Pashto: ټوكر (ps) (ttukər) m
• Persian: پارچه، قماش (fa)
• Portuguese: pano (pt) m
• Romanian: cârpă (ro) f
• Russian: тряпка (ru) (tr'ápka) f
• Spanish: trapo (es) m
• Swahili: nguo (sw)
• Tagalog: retaso
• Talysh:

  Asalemi: پارچه (pârca)

• Yiddish: טוך (yi) (tukh) n

a form of attire

• Arabic: قماش (ar) (khumash)
• French: tenue (fr) f
• Greek: στολή (el) (stolí) f, ένδυμα (el) (éndyma) n
• Hebrew: תלבושת (he) (tilbóshet) f
• Kurdish:

• Pashto: ټوكر (ps) (ttukər) m

  Sorani: جل (ku) (cil), به‌رگ (ku) (berg)

• Russian: мундир (ru) (mundír) m, форма (ru) (fórma) f
• Swahili: nguo (sw)
• Tagalog: damit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: tuko
• Indonesian: kain
• Interlingua: drappo, panno
• Kurdish: cil
• Spanish: trapo, paño
• Volapük: klöf, flab