Dictionary

gingham en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈɡɪŋ.əm/

Etymology

From Malay genggang (“ajar; apart”), or a corruption of French Guingamp, the name of a town in Brittany, France, where this cloth may have been made.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks.
   • Tradwifedom, the meekly old-fashioned vision of domesticity served up on Instagram by a bunch of submissive influencers in aprons, is a gingham-lined trap visible from space […]. 2025 August 28, Gaby Hinsliff, “Taylor Swift: engaged, mummy-tracked and doomed to tradwifedom? You really haven’t been listening”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • And she found that she was not wearing a despised muslin frock! Her dress was gingham!—an adorable plaid with long sleeves, and a patch-pocket low down on the right side! 1913, Eleanor Gates, The Poor Little Rich Girl:
   • Aunt Elizabeth had produced a terrible gingham apron and an equally terrible gingham sunbonnet from somewhere in the New Moon garret, and made Emily put them on. The apron was a long sack-like garment, high in the neck, with sleeves. 1923, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Chapter 8”, in Emily of New Moon, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →OCLC:
   • Always, the relentless bass of hip-hop blasting in rooms of nautical-themed furnishings, faded driftwood, gingham upholstery, linen and chambray. 2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:
2. (countable) A dress made from that material.
   • "We have put on the pale blue silks that we wore at Isabella's wedding; that, however, was Georgiana's thought," continued Helen; "she said it would be impossible to go to church in our pink ginghams." 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 187:
3. (UK, archaic, countable, slang, uncountable) An umbrella.
   • […] their ginghams stuck under their arms at right angles to their back-bones […] 1878, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, George Cruikshank's Table-book, page 268:

Forms

Deriveds

ginghamed

Relateds

seersucker

Translations (17)

ms genggang (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · ga guingeám (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · hil ginggon (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · ko 깅엄 (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · cs kostkovaný vzor (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · mg gingana (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · cmn 格子棉布 (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · yue 格子棉布 (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · es guinga (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · pt guingão (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · fr vichy (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · mrw kanggan (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · ga guingeán (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · ka კუბოკრული ქსოვილი (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · de Gingan (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · ja ギンガム (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks) · ms gingam (a cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks)