rayon

American  

[rey-on] / ˈreɪ ɒn /

noun

rayons plural

1. a regenerated, semisynthetic textile filament made from cellulose, cotton linters, or wood chips by treating these with caustic soda and carbon disulfide and passing the resultant solution, viscose, through spinnerets.

2. fabric made of this filament.

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adjective

1. made of rayon.

rayon British  

/ ˈreɪɒn /

noun

1. any of a number of textile fibres made from wood pulp or other forms of cellulose

2. any fabric made from such a fibre

3. (modifier) consisting of or involving rayon

   a rayon shirt

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• half-rayon
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rayons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rayon

First recorded in 1920–25; apparently based on ray ¹

Example Sentences

Rayon, viscose, all the leaps and bounds made in synthetics — don’t you believe in science?

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2024

Rayon is a synthetic fiber that is made with plant cellulose, including bamboo, but the FTC noted the process “requires the use of toxic chemicals and results in hazardous pollutants.”

From Seattle Times • Apr. 8, 2022

This may be in part a product of the film’s tortuous path to production—the first draft of the script was finished in 1992—but 20 years of rewrites failed to improve that wrongheaded attitude toward Rayon.

From Slate • Apr. 20, 2018

A prime example, he said, is “Dallas Buyers Club,” a critically acclaimed film that earned Jared Leto an Oscar in 2014 for his supporting role as Rayon, an H.I.V.-­positive trans woman.

From New York Times • Sep. 13, 2016

Rayon commanded in the vicinity of Tlalpujahua, where he successively maintained two fortified camps on the Cerro del Gallo, and on Coporo.

From Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican Vol. 1 of 2 A Historical, Geographical, Political, Statistical and Social Account of That Country From the Period of the Invasion by the Spaniards to the Present Time; With a View of the Ancient Aztec Empire and Civilization; A Historical Sketch of the Late War; And Notices of New Mexico and California by Mayer, Brantz