Cupro

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A material often created from cellulose that mimics silk and is utilized in textiles
2. A textile fiber derived from natural sources like cotton that resembles silk in texture and appearance
3. A fabric produced by regenerating cellulose with copper compounds, used as a silk-like textile material

Etymology: Cupro is a clipped form, a shortening of a longer name for the fibre. The word leans on the copper that the fibre's manufacture depends on, since the cellulose is dissolved in a copper-based solution, and the fabric it produces was developed to resemble silk. That makes the name a compact label for its making rather than for its look or feel. The shortening itself is the plain part of the story: the full term was clipped down to its first portion, which is the common pattern for trade names and industrial materials that people use every day. Once the shortened form caught on in textile markets, it replaced the longer name in ordinary speech, so most people encountering it today meet only the clipped version.