corduroy
pronunciation
How to pronounce corduroy in British English: UK
How to pronounce corduroy in American English: US
Word Origin
- corduroy
- corduroy: [18] Popular etymology usually associates corduroy with a supposed French corde du roy ‘cord of the king’ or even couleur du roy ‘king’s colour’ (the original corduroy having according to this theory been purple), but in fact there is no concrete evidence to substantiate this. A more likely explanation is that the word’s first syllable represents cord in the sense ‘ribbed fabric’, and that the second element is the now obsolete noun duroy ‘coarse woollen fabric’ [17], of unknown origin.
- corduroy (n.)
- 1780, probably from cord + obsolete 17c. duroy, name of a coarse fabric made in England, which is of unknown origin. Folk etymology is from *corde du roi "the king's cord," but this is not attested in French, where the term for the cloth was velours à côtes. Applied in U.S. to a road of logs across swampy ground (1780s) on similarity of appearance. CORDUROY ROAD. A road or causeway constructed with logs laid together over swamps or marshy places. When properly finished earth is thrown between them by which the road is made smooth; but in newly settled parts of the United States they are often left uncovered, and hence are extremely rough and bad to pass over with a carriage. Sometimes they extend many miles. They derive their name from their resemblance to a species of ribbed velvet, called corduroy. [Bartlett]
Example
- 1. I don 't know what 's better , the corduroy jacket or that awesome hair and beard .
- 2. Different compositions yield different colors or textures , and a number of construction techniques can alter its appearance , creating anything from paul rudolph 's signature corduroy concrete , as in the yale architecture school , to the timber-set imprints of the cover of this book .
- 3. Today , as on most other mornings in the past quarter of a century , I will present myself again for work , though these days I no longer wear orange corduroy and no longer feel especially nervous .