A type of Chinese silk fabric with a shiny, lustrous surface finish.
From Chinese fu-ye (府絹), where fu means 'government' or 'fine quality' and ye means 'silk.' This specialized textile term entered English through trade with China during the 18th and 19th centuries.
This was a luxury fabric so prized by European aristocrats in the 1700s that Chinese silk merchants could charge enormous prices, making it a symbol of wealth and power before synthetic fibers were invented.
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