A smooth, glossy worsted yarn or fabric with a napped finish, traditionally made in Genappe, Belgium.
Named after Genappe, a town in Belgium famous for textile production in the 16th-19th centuries; the place name became the product name, a process called proprietary toponymy.
Genappe was once such a famous cloth-making hub that its name became the product itself—like how we call tissues 'Kleenex,' medieval merchants called smooth worsted yarn 'genappe' because that's where the best came from.
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