Clothes are a basic necessity for our day-to-day life. Our word of this week is 衣 – ‘clothing; clothes; garment’
Pronunciation
衣 is pronounced yī/yì.
Meaning
The character衣 (yī) was found in the Shang Dynasty oracle bone inscriptions. Its ancient character resembled a coat and therefore its original meaning was coat. In ancient times, the lower coat was called Chang. Eventually, the word became a more general term for clothes. It has also extended to mean “to cover or wrap the surface of the object” denoting that the role of clothing is to wrap and to cover. Clothing also has the meaning of dressing, used as a verb, pronounced yì.
Example：
衣食无忧（yī shí wǔ yōu）
It is an idiom that means that you don’t have to worry about clothes and food. It can describe a good standard of life.
衣不蔽体 （yī bú bì tǐ）
It is an idiom which means the clothes were torn and could not even cover the body. It is used to describe a life of poverty.
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