gingham

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡɪŋ.əm/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Dutch gingang,^[2][3][4][5] a traders' rendering of a Malay word, genggang or ginggang,^{[2][3][4][6][5]} said to mean “striped”^[3][4][5] or “with space between”,^[5] and used of striped cloth.^[4][6][3] The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, glossed it instead as “perishable, fading”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cotton or linen cloth woven of dyed yarn, often in stripes or checks (1615).^[7][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The word passed from the same source into French, Spanish, Italian and German.^[4] In English it was also used colloquially for an umbrella (1861), properly one covered with gingham.^[7][1]

Timeline

• 1615 – a dyed cotton or linen cloth.^[7][3][6]
• 1793 – attributive use, as gingham frock.^[7]
• 1861 – colloquial, an umbrella.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A yarn-dyed cotton fabric in plain weave, usually striped or checked.
2. (colloquial, dated) An umbrella.

References

1. ^ a b 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 e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press