Word of the Week – Denim

I learned quite a few years ago that denim is a cloth named for a location–in this case, the French town of Nîmes. What I didn’t remember so well is that denim is actually short for “serge de Nîmes”…serge being a durable twill fabric that has diagonal lines or ridges on both front and back of the fabric. But that our modern denim is not, in fact, the same fabric.

They are related–both modern denim and the original serge are part of the twill family. But the cotton or cotton-blend weave we associate with the word today doesn’t bear more than a passing resemblance to the wool-blend serge that took its name from the town in which it originated. We owe the Levi Strauss company for our modern variety. Using denim to describe that coarse, twilled cotton cloth is an Americanism from the 1850s; it was used mostly for overalls, so by 1868, denim began to be the word for “pants made of denim.”

So why was denim appropriated as the name for this cloth, when it’s quite distinct from the original cloth bearing the name? Historians aren’t honestly sure. But regardless, the word’s shift in application is rather complete.

Word Nerds Merch!