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Origin and history of cloth

cloth(n.)

"woven fabric, pliable stuff made of intertexture of threads or fibers," Old English claþ "a cloth, sail, cloth covering, woven or felted material to wrap around one," hence, also, "garment," from Proto-Germanic *kalithaz (source also of Old Frisian klath "cloth," Middle Dutch cleet, Dutch kleed "garment, dress," Middle High German kleit, German Kleid "garment"), which is of obscure origin, perhaps a substratum word.

As an adjective, "made or consisting of cloth," from 1590s. Meaning "distinctive clothing worn by some group" (servants of one house, men of some profession or trade) is from 1590s, hence The cloth "the clerical profession" (1701).

Entries linking to cloth

broadcloth(n.)

also broad-cloth, "fine woolen cloth used in making men's garments," early 15c., from broad (adj.) + cloth (n.). So called from its width (usually 60 inches).

cheese-cloth(n.)

"coarse cotton fabric of open texture," 1650s, originally cloth in which curds were pressed, from cheese (n.1) + cloth.

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Trends of cloth

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

fabric
late 15c. (Caxton), "a building," a sense now obsolete, from Old French fabrique (14c.), verbal noun from fabriquer (13c.), from Latin fabricare "to make, construct, fashion, build," from fabrica "workshop," also "an art, trade; a skillful production, structure, fabric," from fab
material
mid-14c., "real, ordinary; earthly, drawn from the material world" (contrasted with spiritual, mental, supernatural), a term in scholastic philosophy and theology, from Old French material, materiel (14c.) and directly from Late Latin materialis (adj.) "of or belonging to matter,
drape
c. 1400, drapen, "to ornament with cloth hangings;" mid-15c., "to weave into cloth," from Old French draper "to weave, make...cloth" (13c., in Modern French "to cover with mourning-cloth, dress, drape"), from drap "cloth, piece of cloth, sheet, bandage...
tartan
woolen fabric," mid-15c., perhaps from French tiretaine "strong, coarse fabric" (mid-13c.), from Old French tiret "kind of cloth...," from tire "silk cloth," from Medieval Latin tyrius "cloth from Tyre" (see Tyrian)....tartarin "Tartar cloth," from Tartare "Tartar," the Central Asian people (see Tartar)....Specific meaning "woolen or worsted cloth woven with crossing stripes of colors" is from c. 1500, formerly a part of the...
pawn
The Old French word is formally identical to pan "cloth, piece of cloth," from Latin pannum (nominative pannus) "cloth, piece...of cloth, garment" and this formerly was suggested as the source of both the Old French and West Germanic words (on the...notion of cloth used as a medium of exchange), but Century Dictionary notes that "the connection seems to be forced."...
kerchief
"square piece of fabric folded and worn about the head," early 13c., kovrechief "piece of cloth used to cover part of the...head," especially a woman's head-cloth or veil, from Anglo-French courchief, Old French couvrechief "a kerchief," literally...From late 14c. as "piece of cloth used about the person" generally, for purposes other than covering the head; and from c.... 1400 as "piece of cloth carried in the hand" to wipe the face, etc....
calico
1530s, kalyko cloth, "white cotton cloth," from an alternative form of Calicut (modern Kozhikode), name of the seaport on...In U.S. use from c. 1800, "printed cotton cloth coarser than muslin;" extended to animal colorings suggestive of printed...
senate
c. 1200, "the legal and administrative body of ancient Rome," from Old French senat or Latin senatus "highest council of the state in ancient Rome," literally "council of elders," from senex (genitive senis) "old man, old" (from PIE root *sen- "old"). It is attested from late 14c
serge
late 14c., sarge, in reference to a woolen cloth in use in the Middle Ages, apparently of a coarse texture, from Old French sarge, serge (12c.), Medieval Latin sargium, sargea "cloth of wool mixed with silk or linen,"  from Vulgar Latin *sarica, from Latin serica (vestis) "s
frieze
"sculptured horizontal band in architecture," 1560s, from French frise, originally "a ruff," from Medieval Latin frisium "embroidered border," variant of frigium, which is probably from Latin Phrygium "Phrygian; Phrygian work," from Phrygia, the ancient country in Asia Minor know

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Dictionary entries near cloth
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