Honan

American  

[hoh-nan, hœ-nahn] / ˈhoʊˈnæn, ˈhœˈnɑn /

noun

1. Wade-Giles. Henan.

2. (usually lowercase)

   1. a pongee fabric made from the filaments of the wild silkworm.

   2. a lustrous fabric simulating pongee and woven from fibers other than silk.

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Honan ¹ British  

/ ˈhəʊˈnæn /

noun

1. a variant transliteration of the Chinese name for Henan

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honan ² British  

/ ˈhəʊˈnæn /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) a silk fabric of rough weave

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Etymology

Origin of Honan

First recorded in 1880–85; named after Honan, where the fabric was first manufactued

Example Sentences

Katie Honan, a reporter with The City, accepted the chips after Greco insisted, despite Honan initially declining, only to discover inside a red envelope containing at least one $100 bill and several $20s.

From Salon • Aug. 23, 2025

“Glass, and the other things like it, won’t always be ugly and awkward,” Mat Honan wrote in Wired in 2013, in a retrospective of a year of wearing the device.

From Slate • Sep. 26, 2024

Democratic polling and strategy group Honan Strategy Group is meanwhile trying to develop an AI survey bot.

From Reuters • May 30, 2023

She invited a group of women to dinner at her home, all of whom had experience as activists: Ms. Schulman, Maxine Wolfe, Anne-Christine d’Adesky, Marie Honan and Anne Maguire.

From New York Times • Jun. 25, 2021

The following incident occurred while we were still outside Honan, studying the language at a sister mission.

From How I Know God Answers Prayer The Personal Testimony of One Life-Time by Goforth, Rosalind