A polka dot is a pattern of evenly spaced round spots. A polka dot dress.
The spots must be evenly spaced and the same size, or it is simply spotted. The name came from the polka dance craze rather than from anything about the pattern.
1nounpolka dotA pattern of evenly spaced round spots.
“The polka dot dress was the only thing anybody remembered.”
polka dot is a pattern.
Named after the polka, the dance that was fashionable when the pattern became popular in the 1850s.
First use appears in the US c. 1857 in the publication Godey's Lady's Book. Named after the polka dance, which was popular at the time (1840–1890). Numerous composites were formed posteriorly, but those names have not endured.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Colours & Patterns