Etymologically
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calico

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 06:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkæ.lɪ.kəʊ/ (UK); /ˈkæ.lɪ.koʊ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

Named after Calicut (modern Kozhikode), a port on the Malabar coast of southwestern India from which European merchants imported cotton cloth.[2][3][4][5][6] The English word is short for Calico cloth, a variant of Calicut cloth.[7] Etymonline says the place name is Tamil.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Originally a general name for cotton cloth imported from the East.[6][3] Barnhart dates kalyko to 1540, Etymonline to the 1530s and Merriam-Webster to 1578;[4][5][3] the OED records the place name from c1505.[6]

Semantic evolution

In England the word came to mean plain white cotton cloth, while in the United States it meant printed cotton cloth coarser than muslin.[6][5][2][3] From the printed cloth it described mottled animal coats, first of horses (1807) and from 1882 of cats.[5][6]

Timeline

  • c1505 – the city of Calicut.[6]
  • 1540 – kalyko, cotton cloth from India.[4][5]
  • 1612 – attributive, made of calico.[6]
  • c1800 – (US) printed cotton cloth.[5]
  • 1807 – (US) spotted, piebald, especially of horses.[6][5]
  • 1882 – of cats.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A coarse, brightly printed cotton cloth.
  2. (chiefly UK) A plain white cotton fabric heavier than muslin.
  3. An animal, such as a cat, with a mottled coat of white with red and black patches.
  4. (obsolete) Cotton cloth imported from India.

Adjective

  1. Made of calico.
  2. Resembling printed calico; spotted or mottled.

Word family

  • calicoed
  • calico bass
  • calico bush

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House