taffeta

[taf-i-tuh]

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noun

a medium-weight or light-weight fabric of acetate, nylon, rayon, or silk, usually smooth, crisp, and lustrous, plain-woven, and with a fine crosswise rib effect.

any of various other fabrics of silk, linen, wool, etc., in use at different periods.

adjective

of or resembling taffeta.

Origin of taffeta

1325–75; Middle English taffata < Medieval Latin ≪ Persian tāftah silken or linen cloth, noun use of past participle of tāftan to twist, spin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for taffeta

thread, fiber, tulle, mantua, samite, tussore, tussah, pongee, sendal

Examples from the Web for taffeta

Contemporary Examples of taffeta

In the Forum Club, there is taffeta and lace, leather and gold.
Shaq, Year One
Charles P. Pierce
May 24, 2014

Historical Examples of taffeta

How does this design differ from the taffeta with the design?
Clothing and Health
Helen Kinne
The curtain, of taffeta, cut cross-wise, is not gathered in the seam.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVII, August 1852, Vol. V
Various
And the knight, Sir Oliver Lollio, swore he would bestow a taffeta petticoat on thee, but to break his fast with thee.
The Mermaid Series. Edited by H. Ellis. The best plays of the old dramatists. Thomas Dekker. Edited, with an introduction and notes by Ernest Rhys.
Thomas Dekker
Taffeta and silk, as well as fine parchment, were used for the mounts.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2
Various
Instinctively she sensed when taffeta was to be superseded by foulard.
Half Portions
Edna Ferber

British Dictionary definitions for taffeta

taffeta

noun

a crisp lustrous plain-weave silk, rayon, etc, used esp for women's clothes
(as modifier)a taffeta petticoat

any of various similar fabrics

Word Origin for taffeta

C14: from Medieval Latin taffata, from Persian tāftah spun, from tāftan to spin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for taffeta

late 14c., from Old French taffetas (early 14c.), from Italian taffeta, ultimately from Persian taftah "silk or linen cloth," noun use of taftah, past participle of taftan "to shine," also "to twist, spin." Applied to different fabrics at different times (and cf. tapestry).