Passament

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ornamental trimming used in sewing or upholstery, which may be made of various materials like thread or fabric, often used to embellish clothing or furnishings
2. A decorative fabric edging that enhances the appearance of garments and home textiles, crafted from threads or yarns and employed in sewing and furnishing
3. A type of decorative braid or trim, usually found on clothes and upholstery, created from diverse materials for aesthetic enhancement

Etymology: "Passament" is a variant of "passement", and it arrived in English from French, where the trimming it names was already a fixed part of tailoring and furnishing. The French word belongs to a family built on the verb "passer", "to pass", so the core idea is of braid or cord that is passed or laid along the edge of a garment or piece of furniture as decoration. Some of the spellings of this word reached English by a different route, passing through German before settling into the forms used today. That detour explains why the word appears in more than one shape in older texts, with the French-looking "passement" and the more Anglicised-looking "passament" both circulating for a time.

Synonyms: trimming, ornamentation, fringe