How to say "clothes" in Arabic
CognateMeaningclothes
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
malābisמלאבס
ملابس
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
begadimبِگَادِيم
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ل-ب-سHebrew root
ל-ב-שFrom ل-ب-س "to wear" — the same root as Hebrew לבש and לבוש (Hebrew ש ↔ Arabic س, as in שלום/سلام). Malābis is literally "things worn".
Related Hebrew word:לבושlevushلِڤُوش
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
The everyday Palestinian word; malābis sounds formal.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
A different word: hudūm is the Cairo word for clothes.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
A different word: ḥwāyej, literally 'things', is the Darija word for clothes.
In a phrase
He washed the clothes.