Etymograph

English

clothes

Clothes comes from Old English clāþas, plural of clāþ ‘cloth’, from Proto-Germanic *klaiþą ‘cloth’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klaiþą1‘patch; cloth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klaiþ1‘cloth’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clāþ2as clāþas‘cloth; (plural) clothes’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clothes2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1717clothes2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English claþ
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English clothes
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1717, Matthew Prior: “She turned each way her frighted head, / Then…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klaiþąWiktionary, Old English claþ‘patch; cloth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*klaiþWiktionary, Old English claþ‘cloth’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150clāþWiktionary, English clothesas clāþas‘cloth; (plural) clothes’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500clothesWiktionary, English clothes
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1717clothesWiktionary, English clothes. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1717, Matthew Prior: “She turned each way her frighted head, / Then…”

Linked words

through Old English clāþ

clad, claes, 3 more

Today it means

noun Items of clothing; apparel.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “clothes”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English claþ. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *klaiþą / clothes

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