A person who works in the cloth or textile industry, such as a weaver, dyer, or finisher.
Compound of 'cloth' (from Old English 'clāth') and 'worker' (from Old English 'weorcend'). The term became standardized during the Middle Ages when cloth production was a major European occupation.
Clothworkers were so important in medieval Europe that entire towns—like Flanders and Florence—rose to power and wealth mainly from cloth trade, and they even had their own guilds with strict rules about quality!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.