衣料

いりょう · iryou · JLPT N3 · noun

clothing

衣料 — clothing

👕🧵 衣料 = clothing 衣 + material 料: the stuff clothes are made of

衣 means garment and 料 means material, as in 材料 (materials) and 料理 (cooking). So 衣料 covers clothing and fabrics together, which is why shops selling cloth and clothes are called 衣料品店.

料 — rice 米 + dipper 斗
料 combines 米 (rice/grain) with 斗 (a measuring dipper), depicting the act of measuring out grain. From this concrete sense it extended to 'to measure, estimate, anticipate' and to 'materials' (things measured out for use), as in 材料 'materials' and 预料 'to anticipate'.

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