Skip to content

satin

noun

  1. smooth, lustrous fabric, usually of silk or synthetic fiber, woven with a long-float satin binding in warp or weft
L25410 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈsæt.ɪn/ / [ˈsæt.n̩] / [ˈsæʔ.n̩]

adj

Etymology: From French satin, which is derived from "Zaitun", the Arabic name for the Chinese city of Quanzhou, itself derived from Arabic زَيْتُون (zaytūn, “Zayton; olive”), from phono-semantic matching from Chinese 刺桐 (MC tshjeH duwng, “coral tree”) in 刺桐城 (MC tshjeH duwng dzyeng, “coral tree town”), an old name for Quanzhou.

  1. Semigloss.

    satin paint

noun

Etymology: From French satin, which is derived from "Zaitun", the Arabic name for the Chinese city of Quanzhou, itself derived from Arabic زَيْتُون (zaytūn, “Zayton; olive”), from phono-semantic matching from Chinese 刺桐 (MC tshjeH duwng, “coral tree”) in 刺桐城 (MC tshjeH duwng dzyeng, “coral tree town”), an old name for Quanzhou.

  1. A cloth woven from silk, nylon or polyester with a glossy surface and a dull back. (The same weaving technique applied to cotton produces cloth termed sateen).

    Ibn Batuta informs us that a rich silk texture made here was called Zaitûniya; and there can be little doubt that this is the real origin of our word Satin,—Zettani in mediæval Italian, Aceytuni in Spanish.

  2. Gin (the drink).

    'This poor gal was robbed, barely left a stitch, that and the drink... mind, I likes a drop of satin – wot you'd call gin – myself. I'll say nothing against it. She ended thrown out of an upstairs winder.'

verb

Etymology: From French satin, which is derived from "Zaitun", the Arabic name for the Chinese city of Quanzhou, itself derived from Arabic زَيْتُون (zaytūn, “Zayton; olive”), from phono-semantic matching from Chinese 刺桐 (MC tshjeH duwng, “coral tree”) in 刺桐城 (MC tshjeH duwng dzyeng, “coral tree town”), an old name for Quanzhou.

  1. To make (paper, silver, etc.) smooth and glossy like satin.