woolen

• woollen (UK)

From Middle English wollen, wullen, from Old English wyllen, from Proto-Germanic *wullīnaz (“woollen”), equivalent to wool +‎ -en. Cognate with Scots wollin, wolne, wowne (“woollen”), Dutch wollen (“woollen”), German wollen (“woollen”), Danish uldne (“woollen”), Norwegian Bokmål ullen (“fuzzy; woolen”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈwʊlən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊlən

woolen (not comparable) (American spelling)

1. Made of wool.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter IV, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), pages 40–41:

     In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady, Mrs. Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking vinous bliss; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat.

2. Of or relating to wool or woolen cloths.

   woolen manufactures

   a woolen mill

   a woolen draper

• wool

• wooly (US), woolly (UK)

woolen (plural woolens)

1. (American spelling) An item of clothing made from wool.

   Hyponyms: lambswool, sheepswool

   Put all the woolens in this basket.

   • 1979, Kax Wilson, A History of Textiles, Westview Press, →ISBN, page 240:

     American woolens could not compete with British fabrics when quality was important.