洋服

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 洋服 is read as ようふく and is a noun for Western-style clothing as distinct from traditional Japanese dress, and it can also mean clothes generally in everyday use.
• Basic usage: Going out in new clothes appears in 新しい洋服を着る, while preferring kimono to Western clothing appears in 洋服より着物を好む.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• General clothes and Western-style clothing
  • In everyday contexts it can mean clothes broadly, but contrast with 着物 makes the Western-style sense explicit.
• Difference from 服
  • Unlike the most general basic word for clothing, this term can specifically contrast Western-style dress with traditional Japanese clothing.