2167: corduroy Nov 20, 2020

It has been postulated that 'corduroy' comes from a compound of 'cord' as the name of a fabric and 'duroy' a another course wool but 'cord' is not found on its own in this way until after 'corduroy' so this is not so likely. Another idea associates 'corduroy' with the French "corde du roi" (cord of the king) but this is not true either because in French it is "velours à côtes". Another more reasonable connection has been made between this and 'paduasoy' (another corded fabric) as an influential source but there is no obvious true origin.