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weft

UK/wɛft/US/wɛft/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,927 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: wefts

The weft is the threads running across a woven cloth. Weft and warp, a coloured weft, the weft thread.

The warp is stretched on the loom and the weft is passed through it, which is why the warp must be stronger — it takes the tension. Weft is also called the woof. The word comes from weave, and warp comes from a verb meaning to throw.

Definitions of weft

  1. 1nounweftThe threads running across a woven cloth.C2

    “She passed the weft back and forth across the loom.”

weft is a thread.

Where it comes from

Old English wefta comes from wefan, to weave, plus a -t ending. Web and weave are the same root.

  1. Proto-Germanic

    *webaną

  2. Proto-West Germanic

    *weban

  3. Old English

    wefan — to weave

  4. Middle English

    wefte

  5. English, today

    weft

From Middle English wefte, from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic weban, from Proto-Germanic webaną. Equivalent to weave + t.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Knitting & Sewing

Practise this word

weft in the wild

  • The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads.

    Loom

  • The satin weave is characterised by four or more fill or weft yarns floating over a warp yarn, and four warp yarns floating over a single weft yarn.

    Satin

  • Floats are missed interfacings, for example where the warp yarn lies on top of the weft in a warp-faced satin.

    Satin

  • A shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store a holder that carries the thread of the weft yarn while weaving with a loom.

    Shuttle (weaving)

  • Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed, between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft.

    Shuttle (weaving)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the wefan family

weave

weft — used about once every 81,824 pages · #14,927 · point at the bar for the others

  • weaver