flannel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈflænəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English flaunneol (“a kind of woollen cloth or garment”),^[2][3][4][5] apparently a variant of flanyn (“sackcloth”).^[2][3][6][7] The traditional explanation, given by Skeat and others, derives it from Welsh gwlanen (“woollen article, flannel”), from gwlân (“wool”) (see wool),^{[4][8][9][10][7]} and the OED notes that flannel was already a well-known product of Wales in the 16th century.^[4] Barnhart objects that the Welsh consonant cluster would have given English gl-, as in the name Gladys, and prefers Old French flaine (“a kind of coarse wool”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A kind of woollen cloth or garment (1300–01 in Barnhart, as flaunneol; c. 1300 in Etymonline; 1503 in the OED and Merriam-Webster).^{[3][4][11][5]}

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century flannel was a shroud, since the dead had by law to be buried in wool,^[11] and it was used jokingly for a Welshman (1598).^[11] The plural flannels means flannel garments, especially trousers or underclothes.^[2][5][6] In British English a flannel is a cloth for washing the face (1819).^[11][12] The slang sense “nonsense, flattery, evasive talk” arose in the 1920s, apparently in military slang,^[11][13] and the verb, to flatter or speak evasively, followed in 1941.^[11][7]

Timeline

• 1300–01 – flaunneol, a woollen cloth.^[3]
• 1503 – first quotation in the OED.^[11][5]
• 1598 – a Welshman (jocular).^[11]
• 1819 – a washcloth.^[11]
• 1927 – nonsense, flattery (slang).^[11]
• 1941 – verb, to flatter.^[11]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A soft woven fabric of wool, or of wool blended with cotton or synthetic fibres, with a slightly napped surface.
2. flannels: trousers or other garments made of flannel; flannel underclothes.
3. (British) A small cloth for washing the face and hands; a washcloth.
4. (British informal) Evasive or flattering talk; nonsense.

Verb

1. To wrap in or rub with flannel.
2. (British informal) To flatter, or to speak evasively.

Word family

• flannelly
• flannelboard
• flannelette
• flannelmouth
• Canton flannel
• flannel cake
• flannel leaf
• outing flannel

Related words

• wool
• linsey-woolsey

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press