Nowadays, modern shopping malls can be seen in every Chinese city. Young people in China pay great attention to their appearance and many of them go 买衣服 (mǎi yīfu) on a monthly or even a weekly basis. Well, if you would also like to buy some new clothes, here is your chance to learn how to refer to different types of clothes in Chinese — men’s edition.
1. Shirt
衬衫
chènshān
2. T-shirt
T恤
t xù
T恤 (T xù) is a loan word borrowed from the English word “t-shirt”.
3. Sweater
毛衣
máoyī
It’s a self-explanatory word: 毛 (máo) means “fur” or “wool”, and 衣 means “clothes”.
4. Overcoat
外套
wàitào
Any type of coat or jacket that can be worn outside can be called 外套 (wàitào).
dàyī
coat
Warmer, fall or winter coats are usually referred to as 大衣 (dàyī). Since 大 (dà) means “big”, the hidden meaning behind this word is that a coat looks big compared to other types of clothes.
件
jiàn
m.w. for clothes
The measure word for all the words mentioned above is 件 (jiàn). For example:
一件毛衣
yī jiàn máoyī
a sweater
5. Suit
西装
xīzhuāng
Western-style suit
Suits were introduced to China from western countries, and it is also reflected in the meaning of “西 xī”, which means “west”.
6. Jeans
牛仔裤
niúzǎikù
This word is usually associated with American Western movies, in which cowboys can often be seen. 牛仔 (niúzǎi) means “cowboy”, so the literal meaning of “jeans” in Chinese is “cowboy pants”.
7. Sports pants
yùndòng kù
tracksuit pants / sweatpants
运动 (yùndòng) means “sports”, and this word can be interpreted as “trousers that people wear when they do sports”.
8. Shorts
短裤
duǎnkù
短 (duǎn) means “short”, so shorts are literally “short pants” in Chinese.
9. Western-style trousers
西裤
xīkù
trousers; suit pants
10. Shoes
xié(zi)
shoes
píxié
leather shoes
双
shuāng
pair; m.w. a pair for shoes
The measure word for all kinds of shoes is 双 (shuāng). For example:
三双皮鞋
sān shuāng píxié
three pairs of leather shoes
11. Sneakers
运动鞋
yùndòng xíe
12. Flip flops
tuōxié
slippers / flip-flops
拖 (tuō) means “to drag”. It can be observed that people sometimes drag their feet when walking in slippers, and that’s where this word came from.
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