衣

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 衣 is read as ころも and means either clothing worn on the body or the batter coating on fried food.
• Basic usage: Use 白い衣をまとう for wearing white clothing and 衣が薄い天ぷら for tempura with a thin batter coating.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Difference between 衣 and 服
  • The former can be literary or traditional for clothing and also has the separate sense of batter, whereas the latter is the ordinary general word for clothes.