Awning was first spotted in the 1630 Works of Jamestown, Va., settler Captain John Smith regarding a cloth protection at the deck of a sailing vessel. Its etymological origins are unclear. Some authorities believe that the word comes from "haven" (shelter or protection), or perhaps the French auvent (a cloth shade in front of the shop window).

Bleach means to decolorize fabric by chemicals or exposure to the sun. Its meaning of lightening or whitening comes from the Middle English blechen and is derived from the Scandinavian word for bleak or pale and the Indo-European root bhleig, to gleam.

Braid generally refers to interweaving three or more strands into a helical structure. It comes from the Middle English word breiden (to turn about, brandish, change, or weave) and the Old English bregdan (to move quickly).

Buckram is a plain woven, coarse, open fabric used principally as stiffener cloth next to the linings in garments, hat shapes, bookbinding, etc. Buckram can also be made by gluing together two open-weave, sized cotton fabrics. In Middle English it was called bokeram, and was so named because it first was produced from Bokhara, a city in what is now southern Russia.

Bunting is a plain, open weave cotton or worsted (wool) fabric that is piece-dyed and used for flags and decorations. It once was thought that the word was derived from the German word bunt, which means bright, gaily colored, etc. However, the consensus now is that it relates to the Middle English bonting or bolting, loose open cloth used for sifting flour.

Calendering is found in English dictionaries as early as 1731: "To press, smooth and set a gloss upon linnen [sic], etc." It comes from the French word calendre, derived from the Middle Latin calendra, probably a corruption of the older Latin word cylindrus (cylinder or roller).

Camouflage means to disguise or conceal from the enemy, particularly using patterns that merge with the background. It is a relatively recent word in English, derived from the French camoufler (to disguise).

Canvas is a closely woven, coarse cloth of hemp, cotton or linen, often unbleached, used for tents, sails, covers, etc. (Nowadays, there also are synthetic "canvases," constructed from polyester and acrylic.) The word derives from the word cannabis (marijuana), or hemp.

Cheesecloth is a thin, lightweight, loosely woven carded cotton cloth made in a plain weave. It originally was used as a wrapping material for pressed cheese, butter and meat, and was later used for surgical dressing, dustcloths, bookbinding and other applications. Dyed cheesecloth is used as bunting. When the cloth is finished at 36 inches wide, it is called tobacco cloth because cloth of this type has been used to cover tobacco plants.

Chino is a twill cotton fabric made of combed two-ply cotton, which then is vat-dyed in a wide range of colors. The original fabric was yellow mineral-dyed cloth made in Manchester, England, exported to India, then exported again to China. Before 1925, U.S. Army personnel stationed in the Philippines purchased it from China to use in uniforms. (The British Army had used the fabric for many years, and at the time it was the only fabric and dye that would withstand the abuse of military wear.) "Chino" apparently is derived from the French word chinois (pronounced sheen-WA), meaning Chinese, perhaps reflecting the fact that the fabric was purchased in China.

Cloth is derived from gleit, an old Teutonic root word meaning garment or dress.

Cotton is derived from an Arabic word, qutn or qutun. The Arabic connection also can be seen in the Spanish word for cotton: algodon (the prefix "al," also derived from Arabic, means "the"). As far back as 1706, "to cotton" also meant to succeed or agree with, as when the varied textile materials used in making hats held together well as a set, or hung together in an acceptable shape. (I imagine that haberdashery, that is hat-making, isn't an easy craft.)

Denier is an international system for measuring the weight (linear density) of fabric in grams per 9,000 meters. The term originally referred to an Old French coin weighing .05 grams used as a unit in measuring the weight of silk.

Denim is a twill-construction cotton fabric best known as the fabric for blue jeans, where the warp is dyed blue or brown with a white filling. The term is derived from the French serge de N”mes, a twill fabric that was made in N”mes, France.

Drill is a strong, warp-faced, twill-woven cotton fabric, medium- to heavy-weight. The word is derived from the Latin word trilex, which means three threads, because the weave pattern of most drills repeats on three yarns. "Drill" also is a corruption of the German drillich, a ticking or huckaback fabric.

Elastic means being able to spring back. This originally was a scientific coinage from the Late Greek word elastikos, meaning to set in motion. It showed up in English about 1706.

Embossing means the art of producing raised or projected designs on fabric surfaces by engraved heated rollers. The original meaning was to adorn with so-called "bosses" or raised work. It's related to both the Old French embocer and the Old French bosse, meaning hump or swelling.

Fabric is a cloth that is woven, knitted, braided, netted, felted or pleated with any textile fiber, or is a bonded web. Literally, the word means "a structure," and a cloth fabric is a yarn structure (except for nonwovens). The word is derived from the Latin term fabrica, which means workshop. (That's why end-product manufacturers are called "fabricators.")

Fiber is a thread or threadlike substance. The French spelled it fibre (and it retained this spelling in English until recently), which originated in the Latin word fibra.

Flock now is used to mean a nonwoven fabric composed of short fiber particles glued to a substrate material, which itself may be a fabric. Derived from the Latin floccus, meaning a tuft of wool or cotton.

Gabardine is a tightly woven, warp-faced fabric made with a 45-degree or 63-degree-angle twill and singed so that the weave shows. The warp generally has twice the count as the fill. Derived from the Old French gaverdine, the term originally referred to a mantle or cloak worn during the Middle Ages.

Gauze is a thin, sheer, open-weave fabric made from a variety of fibers in which some of the warp ends are interlaced with each other in a leno weave. The name is possibly derived from the city of Gaza, then in Palestine, from which it was first brought. Another possibility: the Arabic kazz (raw silk) and the Persian kaz.

Greige, unprocessed or finished fabric, is derived from the French word grge, meaning raw silk. Today it is often referred to as "gray" goods, which is confusing for the unprepared, since gray goods are usually any color but gray.

A grommet is usually a metal or plastic eyelet through which ropes or tiedown cords are placed. Originally, grommets (or grummets) were small rings built into sails and constructed from rope by sailors. The word is derived from the Old French word gromette (meaning curb chain) and the Breton chadenn gromm (bent chain).

Jacquard is a name with an honored place in both textile and computer history. It refers to a weaving system that allows for the construction of versatile patterned woven fabrics. The jacquard loom, which used an endless belt of punched cards to execute loom commands, was invented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in France in the early 19th century. In the 20th century, the jacquard loom was a model for the computer punchcard data system.

Jersey is a generic term for a plain knitted fabric without a distinct rib that was first manufactured on Jersey, an island in the English Channel.

Khaki is derived from a Hindu-Persian word meaning "earth," or "dust-colored." Both the English and French claim credit for the color name as well as the cloth. According to the French, some of their colonial troops in Pondichery, India, annoyed by the effect of the yellowish-brown dust of the roads on their white uniforms, had their clothes dyed a rust shade, which was immediately imitated by the English. On the other hand, English army records show that in 1848, Harry Burnette Lumsden, in equipping his army corps against the Afghans, had the uniforms dyed khaki color. Gradually, all uniform cloths dyed this shade were called khaki, though the fabrics included drill, serge, whipcord, etc. After the U.S. entered World War I, an olive tint was added to uniforms to make the khaki invisible both against the bare ground and foliage.

To knit means to form a cloth through looping yarns, but originally meant to form into a knot. Its root is the Old English word for knot, cnyttan.

Leno, a type of weave in which the warp yarns are paired and twisted, comes from the French linon (linen).

Muslin is a large group of firm, plain-weave cotton fabrics that vary greatly in weight and finish. One of the oldest staple cotton cloths, it first was made in the Mesopotamian city of Mosul, whence it derived its name. By the end of the 13th century (according to Marco Polo), fabrics made of gold and silver thread in Mosul were called mosolin. In the Middle Ages, the name was applied to heavy, coarse cotton fabrics made in Mosul. India began to produce a great variety of fine cotton muslins, which were imported by Europe. The first European-produced muslins were made in the Scottish town of Paisley (another important textile name!) around 1700.

Nap is an effect created on cloth when brushes or toothed cylinders are used to beat or raise part of the fiber structure upward. Sometimes the surface of the fabric is sheared, which is why the fabric is derived from the Dutch nappe (to scratch or rub) and from the Anglo-Saxon word knoppian (to pluck), which indicated how the little knots remaining on some fabrics where removed by women with little nippers.

The original osnaburg fabrics came from OsnabrŸck, Germany, where they were made from flax and tow. Osnaburg is a coarse, strong, plain-weave cotton fabric, often left in its natural color. Osnaburgs have been the basic fabric for a variety of industrial applications. The original osnaburgs were yarn-dyed in blue and white or brown and white stripes, checks and solid colors; back then, they typically were used locally for work clothing.

Oxford fabrics are a class of cotton or synthetic textiles made with a modified plain or basket weave. The fabric is usually soft because of the construction and the combed cotton yarns that are used. Oxford cloth is the one remaining commercial shirting variety of four fabrics, originally made in the late 19th century by a Scotch mill, that bore the names of universities: Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale.

Rope is a thick cord made from intertwisted strands of fiber, from the Middle English rop and originally from the Indo-European root reip (a rag or piece of cloth).

Satin is a term originating from the name of the town Zaytoun (now Chuanchou), a Chinese port from which these fabrics were exported during the Middle Ages. When satins first came into prominence, the spelling of the term throughout Europe was aceytuin, or variations like the Italian zetain.

The term selvedge (or selvage) refers to a narrow woven-edge portion of fabric parallel to the warp, made with special stronger yarns woven more tightly than the main portion of the fabric to prevent raveling. The word comes from the Middle Dutch selfedgge, or self-edge.

Sleazy, meaning cheap or shoddy, originally referred to a loose-weave fabric, which allows the threads to slide around and become distorted in shape. Some etymologists believe that a linen cloth in this style from the Silesia region of Germany was the basis for this word, as "Silesia" became distorted to "sleasy" and finally "sleazy."

Stitch, derived from Middle English stiche, meaning literally "a puncture, stab or pain in the side," is a passing of a needle and thread through fabric or leather. People who call an abdominal pain a "stitch" are using the word in its original meaning.

Taffeta is a category of fabrics made with a plain-weave and having a fine, smooth, crisp face. The fabric employs a heavier filling yarn relative to the warp, resulting in a fine cross-rib pattern. The term is derived from the Persian term taftah, a very fine, plain weave silk fabric.

Tarpaulin originally was spelled "tarpauling," meaning a cover of coarse canvas tarred to keep out the wet. The word appears as early as 1674, a combination of "tar" and "palling" (covering, still used in phrases such as funeral pall).

Textile is derived from the Latin term textilis, from the verb texere, to weave. The root words for "text" and "textile" are the same. Thus writing is "weaving words together."

Ticking is a cover fabric into which feathers are put for a bed or quilt or other items. The word gradually evolved from the Latin theca (a case) which became techa (a linen case) and eventually teke in Middle English.

Twill is a type of fabric with the appearance of diagonal lines produced by causing the fill yarns to pass over, in the most common form, one and under two warp threads. There are, however a variety of other combinations. Some etymologists believe "twill" is rooted in the word "two." Others think that the name derives from the River Tweed, which separates England from Scotland.

Twine is a twisted set of threads or yarns. The word has the same root as "twin," indicating threads doubled and twisted together.

Upholstery is covering for furniture. An "upholdster" once was a tradesman who supplied beds and furniture.

Yarn is derived from the Icelandic gorn, meaning guts or stringy entrails, an attractive image with which to end this little lexicon.

Source: Industrial Fabric Products Review, September 1996. Author: Michael Ravnitzky. A selected bibliography:

• An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, by Rev. Walter W. Skeat, Oxford University Press, 1901 (Reprinted 1963).
• Fairchild's Dictionary of Textiles, 6th Edition, by Dr. Isabel B. Wingate, Fairchild Publications, 1979.
• The Modern Textile and Apparel Dictionary, Fourth Edition, by George E. Lindon, Textile Book Service, 1973.
• Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, by David B. Guralnik, World Publishing Co., 1970.