gingham
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of gingham
1605–15; < Dutch gingang < Malay gəŋgaŋ, giŋgaŋ with space between, hence, striped
Explanation
Checked cotton cloth is called gingham. If you're planning on eating lunch at the beach, you might want to bring your gingham picnic blanket — and plenty of sunscreen. When you see the cheerful checked pattern of gingham fabric, it probably makes you think of curtains in homey kitchen windows, your grandma's tablecloth, or little girls' summer dresses trimmed in rickrack. Most gingham is patterned with small checks of white and one other color. The word comes, via the Dutch gingang, from a Malay word that means "striped."
Vocabulary lists containing gingham
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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Our Town
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I had my AirPods in, and my gingham shirt and bandana signaled I was ready to celebrate Independence Day.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
But "when I'm with Hyodol, I never get hurt", she said, holding the cuddly doll with pigtails and a pink gingham dress, provided by her local municipality.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
“They’re light blue, just like her gingham dress.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
The crowd in the dining room was a mix of older and younger, but most people were dressed on the preppy side in gingham and Ralph Lauren.
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2024
There I’d used some of the brown gingham to capture this broad prairie.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
