A lightweight twilled fabric, typically made from cotton or wool, originally produced in Tonkin (now northern Vietnam).
Named after Tonkin, a historical region in what is now northern Vietnam that was part of French Indochina. The fabric was imported to Europe in the 19th century and took the regional name.
Tonkin cloth is a perfect example of how colonial trade left its mark on English vocabulary—we named fabrics, spices, and colors after distant places, and these words are frozen reminders of historical trade routes.
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