rayon

American  

[rey-on] / ˈreɪ ɒn /

noun

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.

---

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

---

Other Word Forms

• half-rayon adjective

Etymology

Origin of rayon

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

Example Sentences

Per Vogue, there’s Hubert de Givenchy’s 1953 “salt white” dress embroidered with sliced tomatoes, Cynthia Rowley’s 1993 tomato-printed rayon dress and Judith Leiber’s tomato rhinestone minaudière circa 1994.

From Salon • Jun. 29, 2025

All contained cotton, in some cases mixed with other textiles such as spandex and rayon.

From Reuters • Sep. 1, 2023

Columns by Times sportswriter Braven Dyer about better sports equipment and uniforms getting better results inspired the team manager to whip up a uniform of rayon shirts and pinstriped white flannel shorts.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 23, 2022

It’s also responsible for 15 percent of the world’s hops and about a tenth of global walnuts, peppers and rayon.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

The young women, sitting in their own clusters on the lawn, wore short- heeled pumps and rayon hose, calf-length skirts, and loose-fitting blouses with ruffles and flounces on the sleeves and at the necklines.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown