different between woolen vs worsted

English

Alternative forms

• woollen (British)

Etymology

From Middle English wollen, wullen, from Old English wyllen, from Proto-Germanic *wull?naz (“woollen”), equivalent to wool +? -en. Cognate with Scots wollin, wolne, wowne (“woollen”), Dutch wollen (“woollen”), German wollen (“woollen”), Danish uldne (“woollen”), Norwegian ulne (“fuzzy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w?l?n/
• Rhymes: -?l?n

Adjective

woolen (not comparable) (American spelling)

1. Made of wool.
2. Of or relating to wool or woolen cloths.

Derived terms

• wool

Related terms

• wooly (US), woolly (UK)

Translations

Noun

woolen (plural woolens)

1. (American spelling) An item of clothing made from wool

Translations

English

Etymology 1

Named after Worsted (now Worstead), a town in Norfolk, England.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: wo?os?t?d, IPA^(key): /?w?s.t?d/
• (US): enPR: wo?os?t?d, wûrst??d, IPA^(key): /?w?s.t?d/, /?w?.st?d/

Noun

worsted (countable and uncountable, plural worsteds)

1. Yarn made from long strands of wool.
   • 1761, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Volume III, Chapter 29,^[1]

     An old set-stitched chair, valanced and fringed around with party-coloured worsted bobs, stood at the bed’s head opposite to the side where my father’s head reclined.

   • 1871, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter 1:^[2]

     […] the kitten had been having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had been trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had all come undone again […]
2. The fine, smooth fabric made from such wool yarn.
   • 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, Chapter 4,^[4]

     [...] the undertaker’s wife opened a side door, and pushed Oliver down a steep flight of stairs into a stone cell, damp and dark: forming the ante-room to the coal-cellar, and denominated ‘kitchen’; wherein sat a slatternly girl, in shoes down at heel, and blue worsted stockings very much out of repair.

Hyponyms

• (fine wool fabric): gabardine, serge, tamin, whipcord

Translations

Etymology 2

Participle adjective of the verb worst.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: wûst??d, IPA^(key): /?w??.st?d/
• (US) enPR: wûrst??d, IPA^(key): /?w?.st?d/

Verb

worsted

1. simple past tense and past participle of worst

Adjective

worsted (comparative more worsted, superlative most worsted)

1. Defeated, overcome.

Translations

Anagrams

• Tedrows, strowed, trowsed, wedtros