Flannel

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈflænəl/

Definitions

1. A warm, loosely woven fabric frequently made from materials like cotton or wool, known for its soft texture and often used in clothing and blankets
2. A soft fabric with a fuzzy surface, usually woven from cotton or wool ; language that is intended to deceive or flatter insincerely
3. Material characterized by its gentle texture and used commonly for garments or bedding ; speech that aims to charm or mislead by excessive praise

Etymology: Flannel began as a word for wool itself. Its oldest ancestor, Old French "flaine" or "floene", meant "coarse wool", and it traces back through the Gaulish language spoken in ancient Gaul to a Proto-Celtic root meaning "wool", which also gave Welsh "gwlân" and Breton "gloan". The English word came by way of Anglo-Norman "flanelle", a diminutive form, so the name is literally a little version of that coarse wool. Middle English borrowed it as "flaunneol", and over the centuries the spelling settled into the form we use now. The cloth it names is soft and loosely woven, which is why the word moved from the raw material to the finished fabric. The Proto-Indo-European ancestor, which is linked to the English word "wool", sits far back in the family tree and explains the shared sound across these languages.

Synonyms: fabric, material