Quilt

How to spell quilt

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce quilt

What does quilt mean?

1. nounA warm bed covering made of two layers of fabric with padding stitched between them.
2. verbTo stitch together two layers of fabric with padding in between, often in a decorative pattern.

Quilt in a sentence

• noun

  She pulled the heavy quilt up to her chin against the cold.

• verb

  She learned to quilt fabric layers into neat diamond patterns.

• noun

  The patchwork quilt on the spare bed was sewn by his grandmother.

• verb

  The workshop teaches you how to quilt a jacket lining for extra warmth.

Where does quilt come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word came into English around 1300 from the Old French 'cuilte' or 'coute', which traced back to the Latin 'culcita', meaning a stuffed sack, a mattress, or a cushion. The literal idea was a soft padded thing filled with feathers, wool, or other stuffing, which is why a quilt has always meant layers of fabric with padding sealed between them. Over the centuries the sense narrowed from any padded mattress to specifically a thick stitched bedcover, and the verb 'to quilt' grew up alongside it to describe sewing layers together in a decorative pattern. The same Latin 'culcita' also lies behind the word 'counterpane' through a long winding route. The spelling keeps the slightly tricky 'qu' opening, which represents a plain 'kw' sound and is the main thing a writer has to remember.

How the word is built

• quilt (single root, from Latin culcita 'mattress, stuffed cushion'); no prefix or suffix