Voiles

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of lightweight fabric often used for making curtains or clothing
2. A term in nautical usage referring to sails on a ship used to catch wind
3. A word in textile manufacturing that signifies sheer and translucent materials used in various applications

Etymology: "Voiles" is the plural of "voile," a word English borrowed from French, where it means "veil." The sails on a ship share that root because a sail is a large sheet of cloth stretched to catch the wind, much as a veil is a sheet of fabric draped over something. Both words descend from the same Latin source, "velum," meaning sail, cloth or covering, which is why "voile" and "veil" are doublets: two English words that came into the language by different routes but from one ancestor. In English, "voile" has also come to name a light, sheer fabric, a use that reflects the same idea of thin cloth. The nautical "voiles" keeps the older, broader sense of a canvas sheet hung to take the wind.

Synonyms: fabrics, sheers, curtains, gauzes, drapes