satin

C2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈsæt.ɪn/ See IPA manual

Freq #16489

Meanings

1

noun
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

noun
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.'.
3

adj
Semigloss.

Satin paint.
4

noun
a smooth fabric of silk or rayon

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms satinashsatinetsatinettesatinflowersatinizesatinleafsatinlikesatinpodsatinwoodsatiny

Related forms sateen

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

satin stitch
closely packed flat stitches that form a smooth surface like satin

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Satin came into English through Old French from Arabic zaytūnī, “of Tsinkiang,” referring to a town in China. The name reflects the fabric’s historical association with Chinese silk.

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.

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# satin

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈsæt.ɪn/
**Frequency rank:** 16489

## Meanings
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).
2. Gin (the drink).
3. Semigloss.
4. a smooth fabric of silk or rayon

## Examples
- 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.
- '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.'.
- Satin paint.

## Derived Forms
- satinash
- satinet
- satinette
- satinflower
- satinize
- satinleaf
- satinlike
- satinpod
- satinwood
- satiny

## Related Forms
- sateen

## 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.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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