Textiles

How to spell textiles

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce textiles

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does textiles mean?

1. nounCloth or woven fabrics, or the industry that manufactures them.

Textiles in a sentence

• The factory exports textiles to retailers across Europe.

• She studied textiles and fashion design at college.

Where does textiles come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb texere, which literally meant 'to weave', and to its related adjective textilis, meaning 'woven' or 'that which can be woven'. The same Latin root quietly underlies a surprising family of English words, including 'text' itself, since a piece of writing was once imagined as words woven together into a fabric, as well as 'texture', 'context', and 'pretext'. English adopted 'textile' in the early 1600s as a term for woven cloth, taking it either directly from the Latin neuter noun textile or by way of French. Over time the plural 'textiles' broadened to cover all kinds of fabric and the industry that produces them, whether woven, knitted, or otherwise made. Remembering that hidden 'weave' sense helps fix the spelling: the 'text' that opens the word is the very same 'text' you read, and the ending is -ile, not -isle or -ial.

How the word is built

• text- (from Latin texere: to weave)
• -ile (capable of, suited to)
• -s (plural)