A fine cotton fabric with diagonal ribs, originally produced in Cambay, India.
From Cambay (Khambhat), a port city in Gujarat, India known for textile production. The name was adopted into European languages in the 16th-17th centuries when trade routes brought Indian fabrics to Europe. The place name became synonymous with the type of cloth produced there.
Before fast fashion, European merchants were so impressed by Indian cotton weaving that they named fabrics after the Indian cities where they came from—cambaye, calico (from Calicut), muslin (from Mosul). It's like how we now call facial tissue 'Kleenex' even when it's not that brand!
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