tweed

Pronunciation

• IPA: /twiːd/^[1]

Etymology

It was originally a trade name,^[2][3][4] said to come from a misreading of Scots tweel, a form of twill,^[2][3][4] helped by association with the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster and Random House instead take it from Scots tweedling “twilled cloth”.^[5][6] Etymonline links the name to Tweed fishing trousers advertised in London in the 1830s.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rough twilled woollen cloth (1847 in Barnhart and the OED, said to be used from about 1831;^[2][3][7] 1839 in Etymonline, and 1837 as an adjective).^[4]

Semantic evolution

The cloth was made chiefly in the south of Scotland,^[7][6] and in the plural tweeds came to mean clothes made of it.^[2][5][6] The adjective tweedy (1912) was later applied to the country or suburban set who wore it.^[3]

Timeline

• 1837 – adjective, of tweed cloth.^[4]
• 1839 – the cloth (Etymonline; 1847 in Barnhart and the OED).^[4][3][7]
• 1912 – tweedy.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A coarse, rough woollen fabric, often in a twill weave, used for suits and coats.
2. (plural) Clothing made of this fabric.
3. A paper with a rough surface, used for some photographic prints.

Word family

• tweedy
• Harris tweed

Related words

• twill

References

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