wool

See also: Wool

English

A sheep being sheared for its wool.

Etymology

From Middle English wolle, from Old English wull, from Proto-West Germanic *wullu, from Proto-Germanic *wullō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂.

Cognates

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Wulle, German Low German Wull, Dutch wol, German Wolle, Norwegian ull; also Welsh gwlân, Latin lāna, Lithuanian vìlna, Russian во́лос (vólos), Slovak vlna, Bulgarian влас (vlas), Albanian lesh (“wool, hair, fleece”). Doublet of lana.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wʊl/, /wuːl/
• (General American) enPR: wo͝ol, IPA^(key): /wʊl/, /wuːl/, [wʊ̠ɫ], [wɫ̩], [wəl]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊl

Noun

wool (usually uncountable, plural wools)

1. The hair of the sheep, llama and some other ruminants.
   • 2006, Nigel Guy Wilson, Ancient Greece, page 692:

     The sheep were caught and plucked, because shears had not yet been invented to cut the wool from the sheep's back.

2. A cloth or yarn made from the wool of sheep.
   • 2009, January 12, “Mireya Navarro”, in It May Market Organic Alternatives, but Is Your Cleaner Really Greener?:

     Spielvogel said wet cleaning also has limitations; while it is fine for cottons and fabrics worn in warm climates, he said, it can damage heavy wools or structured clothes like suit jackets.

3. Anything with a texture like that of wool.
   • 1975, Anthony Julian Huxley, Plant and Planet, page 223:

     The groundsels have leaves covered in wool for insulation […]

4. A fine fiber obtained from the leaves of certain trees, such as firs and pines.
5. (obsolete) Short, thick hair, especially when crisped or curled.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     wool of bat and tongue of dog

6. (Britain, New Zealand) Yarn, including that made from synthetic fibers.
7. (Liverpudlian, derogatory) A resident of a satellite town outside Liverpool, such as St Helens or Warrington. See also Yonner.

Hyponyms

• (cloth or yarn): felt, tweed, worsted

Coordinate terms

• (hair of sheep): goathair, horsehair, qiviut

Derived terms

• andalusian wool
• breech wool
• burry wool
• cotton wool
• dead pulled wool
• dyed in the wool
• fleece wool
• glass wool
• ice wool
• mineral wool
• much cry and little wool
• philosopher's wool
• pull the wool over somebody's eyes
• rag wool
• scoured wool
• seed wool
• Shetland wool
• shorn wool
• steel wool
• thibet wool
• virgin wool
• warm as wool
• waste of wool
• wire wool
• wool classer
• woolgathering
• wool grease
• woollen, woolen
• woolly, wooly
• wool oil
• woolpack
• woolsack
• woolwear

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ウール (ūru)

Translations

hair of sheep, etc.

• Afrikaans: woll
• Albanian: lesh (sq) m
• Arabic: صُوف‎ m (ṣūf)

  Egyptian Arabic: صوف‎ m (ṣūf)

• Armenian: բուրդ (hy) (burd), գեղմ (hy) (gełm) (archaic)
• Aromanian: lãnã f
• Assamese: উণ (un)
• Asturian: llana (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: yun (az)
• Bactrian: παμανο (pamano)
• Baluchi: پژم‎ (pažm, pažam)
• Bashkir: йөн (yön)
• Belarusian: во́ўна f (vóŭna), шэрсць f (šerscʹ)
• Berber:

  Tashelhit: taḍutt f

• Breton: gloan (br) m
• Bulgarian: въ̀лна (bg) f (vǎ̀lna)
• Burmese: သိုးမွေး (my) (sui:mwe:)
• Catalan: llana (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᎤᏩᏂ (uwani)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 羊毛 (zh) (yángmáo)

• Corsican: lana f
• Czech: vlna (cs)
• Dalmatian: luona f
• Danish: uld (da) c
• Dutch: wol (nl) m
• Esperanto: lano
• Estonian: vill
• Evenki: инңакта (inңakta)
• Finnish: villa (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: lana f
• French: laine (fr) f
• Friulian: lane f
• Galician: la (gl) f
• Georgian: მატყლი (maṭq̇li)
• German: Wolle (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐌻𐌰 f (wulla)
• Greek: μαλλί (el) n (mallí)

  Ancient: ἔριον n (érion), εἶρος n (eîros)

  Mycenaean: 𐀔𐀪 (ma-ri)

• Hausa: ulu (ha)
• Hebrew: צֶמֶר‎ (he) m (tsémer)
• Hindi: ऊन (hi) m (ūn)
• Hungarian: gyapjú (hu)
• Icelandic: ull (is)
• Indonesian: wol (id)
• Interlingua: lana
• Irish: olann f
• Istro-Romanian: lărę f, lărĕ f
• Italian: lana (it) f
• Japanese: ウール (ūru), 羊毛 (ja) (ようもう, yōmō)
• Kazakh: жүн (kk) (jün)
• Khmer: ឧណ្ណា (km) (ʼunnaa), រោមចៀម (room ciəm)
• Korean: 털실 (teolsil), 양모 (ko) (yangmo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خوری‎ (xurî)

  Northern Kurdish: hirî (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: жүн (ky) (jün)
• Lao: ຂົນ (lo) (khon)
• Latin: lāna (la) f
• Latvian: vilna f
• Laz: მონტკორი (monťǩori)
• Lithuanian: vilna (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Woll f
• Macedonian: во́лна f (vólna)
• Malagasy: volonondry (mg)
• Malay: wul, suf
• Malayalam: കമ്പിളി (ml) (kampiḷi)
• Maltese: suf m
• Maori: wūru
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: меж (mež)

  Western Mari: миж (miž)

• Mingrelian: მონტყორი (monṭq̇ori)
• Mongolian: ноос (mn) (noos)
• Nanai: сингакта
• Navajo: aghaaʼ, dibé bighaaʼ, hakʼaz ayání bighaaʼ, Shádiʼááhdę́ę́ʼ tłʼízí bighaaʼ
• Norman: laine f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ull (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: ull f

• Occitan: lana (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: вльна f (vlĭna)

• Old Portuguese: lãa
• Oriya: ଉଲ (ulô)
• Ossetian: фист (fist), фӕсм (fæsm)
• Pali: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: پشم‎ (fa) (pašm)
• Plautdietsch: Woll f
• Polish: wełna (pl) f
• Portuguese: lã (pt) f
• Quechua: millwa
• Romanian: lână (ro) f
• Romansch: launa f, lana f, làna f, langa
• Russian: шерсть (ru) f (šerstʹ)
• Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
• Sardinian: lana f
• Scots: oo
• Scottish Gaelic: clòimh f, olann f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ву̏на f

  Roman: vȕna (sh) f

• Sicilian: lana (scn) f
• Slovak: vlna f
• Slovene: volna (sl) f
• Somali: suuf
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wałma f

• Spanish: lana (es) f
• Swedish: ull (sv) c
• Svan: მა̈ტყ (mäṭq̇)
• Swahili: sufu (sw)
• Tagalog: lana (tl)
• Tajik: пашм (tg) (pašm)
• Tatar: йон (tt) (yon)
• Telugu: బొచ్చు (te) (boccu)
• Thai: ขนแกะ (kǒn-gɛ̀), ขน (th) (kǒn)
• Tibetan: བལ (bal)
• Tok Pisin: wul
• Turkish: yün (tr)
• Turkmen: ýüň
• Udi: ха (χa)
• Ukrainian: во́вна f (vóvna), шерсть f (šerstʹ)
• Urdu: اون‎ m (ūn)
• Uzbek: jun (uz)
• Venetian: łana f
• Vietnamese: len (vi), lông (vi)
• Walloon: linne (wa) f
• Welsh: gwlân (cy) m
• Yiddish: וואָל‎ (vol)
• Zazaki: peşmi
• Zulu: uvolo

cloth or yarn

• Arabic: صُوف‎ m (ṣūf)
• Armenian: բուրդ (hy) (burd)
• Asturian: llana (ast) f
• Belarusian: пра́жа f (práža), во́ўна f (vóŭna)
• Breton: gloanaj m, gloanenn f
• Bulgarian: вълна́ (bg) f (vǎlná), пре́жда (préžda)
• Burmese: သိုးမွေး (my) (sui:mwe:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 羊毛 (zh) (yángmáo)

• Czech: vlna (cs), příze (cs) f
• Dutch: wol (nl)
• Estonian: vill
• Finnish: villa (fi)
• French: laine (fr) f
• Georgian: შალის ქსოვილი (šalis ksovili), შალი (šali)
• German: Wolle (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐌻𐌰 f (wulla)
• Greek: μαλλί (el) n (mallí)

  Ancient: ἔριον n (érion)

  Mycenaean: 𐀔𐀪 (ma-ri)

• Hausa: ulu (ha)
• Hindi: ऊन (hi) (ūn)
• Hungarian: gyapjú (hu)
• Italian: lana (it) f
• Japanese: 羊毛 (ja) (ようもう, yōmō)
• Khmer: រោមចៀម (room ciəm)
• Korean: 털실 (teolsil), 양모 (ko) (yangmo)
• Lao: ຂົນສັດ (lo) (khon sat)
• Latvian: dzija f
• Lithuanian: vilnonas m
• Macedonian: во́лница f (vólnica), пре́ѓа f (préǵa)
• Navajo: aghaaʼ
• Norman: laine f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ull (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: ull f

• Polish: wełna (pl) f, przędza (pl) f
• Portuguese: lã (pt) f
• Romanian: lână (ro) f
• Russian: шерсть (ru) f (šerstʹ), пря́жа (ru) f (prjáža)
• Scottish Gaelic: clòimh f, olann f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: predja, prtilica

• Slovak: vlna f, priadza f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wałma f

• Spanish: lana (es) f
• Swedish: ylle (sv) n
• Telugu: ఉన్ని (te) (unni)
• Thai: ผ้าขนสัตว์ (th), สักหลาด (th) (sàk-gà-làat)
• Ukrainian: во́вна f (vóvna), пря́жа f (prjáža)
• Urdu: اون‎ (ūn)
• Vietnamese: len (vi)

anything with a texture like that of wool

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: villa (fi)

See also

• wool on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Cornish

Noun

wool

1. Soft mutation of gool.

Tlingit

Noun

wool

1. hole