Clothes in Arabic: 12 Everyday Words with Examples

01Start with a shirt and a coat

• Qamis names a shirt. Mitaf names a coat. Imagine choosing one of these from a wardrobe.
• These are standard Arabic vocabulary forms. Everyday clothing names can also differ by region or shop.
• The reading aids use plain letters. Listen alongside the Arabic spelling, because simplified English spellings cannot capture every Arabic sound.

02Add four useful garments

• Sirwal is grammatically singular even though English says trousers. It can name one garment; it does not mean one trouser leg.
• Fustan means a dress, tannura a skirt, and sutra a jacket. Connect each name to the item rather than the person wearing it.
• Tannura and sutra are feminine nouns. Qamis, sirwal, mitaf, and fustan are masculine nouns.

03Finish the outfit

• These labels name one item: a hat, a scarf, a belt, or a glove.
• Wishah is a general word for scarf. It does not specify one particular style or way of wearing it.
• Choose two items you use often. Recall their Arabic names while imagining putting them beside your shirt or coat.

A word becomes easier to use when it has a purpose. Try making a two-item packing list instead of repeating the whole list in the same order.

04One shoe is not the plural shoes

The plural forms do not tell you an exact number. Arabic also has special forms for exactly two; those are a separate lesson. Here, learn the singular label and recognise the plural you might see in a shop category.

05Say which item is small

• The adjective comes after the noun in these phrases.
• Use saghir with the masculine qamis and saghira with the feminine sutra.
• The form follows the Arabic garment word, not the wearer.

These phrases describe a small item. A shop’s exact clothing sizes still depend on its sizing system. Point to the item you mean and keep the noun and adjective together as one useful phrase.