fustian
pronunciation
How to pronounce fustian in British English:
UK [ˈfʌstiən]
How to pronounce fustian in American English:
US [ˈfʌstʃən]
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- Noun:
- pompous or pretentious talk or writing
- a strong cotton and linen fabric with a slight nap
Word Origin
- fustian (n.)
- "thick cotton cloth," c. 1200, from Old French fustaigne, fustagne (12c., Modern French futaine), from Medieval Latin fustaneum, perhaps from Latin fustis "staff, stick of wood; cudgel, club" (see fustigate) as a loan-translation of Greek xylina lina "linens of wood" (i.e. "cotton"). But the Medieval Latin word also is sometimes said to be from Fostat, town near Cairo where this cloth was manufactured. [Klein finds this derivation untenable.] Figurative sense of "pompous, inflated language" recorded by 1590s.