Meanings
tweed1
plural tweeds
- countableuncountableA coarse woolen fabric used for clothing.
“Nothing very special, sir. He had a mack or coat over his arm, and a trilby hat. He wore a tweed suit, sir, I think.”
1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled!1 more example
MICHAEL NOWAK, alias John Mazurkiewiez, was indicted for stealing, on the 15th of April, 2 1/4 yards of woollen cloth, called tweed, value 12s., and 2 1/4 yards of woollen cloth, called doe-skin, value 17s., […]
1839, Great Britain. Central Criminal Court, Central Criminal Court. Minutes of Evidence, page 75
Tweed2
plural Tweeds
- countableuncountableA river in the United Kingdom; a river in the Scottish Borders area which for part of its length forms the border between Scotland and England. It flows into the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth, England.
The Tweed is a salmon river, and the Blessing of the Nets ceremony heralds the start of the fishing season.
1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 296Synonyms: River Tweed
- countableuncountableA municipality and community therein, in Hastings County, Ontario, Canada.
- countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Laurens County, Georgia, United States.
- countableuncountableA local government area in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, named after the Tweed River; in full, Tweed Shire.
- countableuncountableA river in this region of New South Wales.
- countableA surname.
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA river in the United Kingdom; a river in the Scottish Borders area which for part of its length forms the border between Scotland and England. It flows into the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth, England.
More synonyms by meaning
noun(usually in the plural) trousers made of flannel or gabardine or tweed or white cloth
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishtwel
- Scotstweedling“a type of twilled cloth”
- Englishtweed
Attested since the 1830s. Probably a shortening or back-formation from Scots tweedling (“a type of twilled cloth”), attested since the 16th century and related to tweedle; the two words are variants of tweeling and tweel, which go back to Middle English twel, twyle (“a type of woven fabric; twill”), whence also English twill. Scottish tradition says it derives directly from tweel when an English merchant misread tweels or tweeled (cloth) in an 1831 letter from a Scottish merchant as Tweed(s) and took it to be a trade-name based on the River Tweed, but the DSL says evidence for this is lacking, and because English merchants must have been familiar with tweel(ed cloth) before the 1830s, it seems unlikely to be based on misunderstanding tweel rather than on the well-attested tweedle. Several of the earliest citations, from 1839, 1841, and 1845 treat it as a new name for a familiar cloth.
More words from Scots, Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian туид
- туид (tuid)coarse woolen fabric
Chinese Mandarin 粗花呢
- 粗花呢coarse woolen fabric
Czech tvíd
- tvídcoarse woolen fabric
Dutch tweed
- tweedcoarse woolen fabric
Esperanto tvido
- tvidocoarse woolen fabric
Finnish tweed, tweedkangas
- tweedcoarse woolen fabric
- tweedkangascoarse woolen fabric
French tweed
- tweedcoarse woolen fabric
German Tweed
- Tweedcoarse woolen fabric
Greek τουίντ
- τουίντ (touínt)coarse woolen fabric
Irish bréidín
- bréidíncoarse woolen fabric
Italian tweed
- tweedcoarse woolen fabric
Māori tūīti
- tūīticoarse woolen fabric
Polish tweed
- tweedcoarse woolen fabric
Portuguese tweed
- tweedcoarse woolen fabric
Russian твид
- твид (tvid)coarse woolen fabric
Scottish Gaelic clò
- clòcoarse woolen fabric
Slovak tvíd
- tvídcoarse woolen fabric
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tweed
Anagrams
Cite this entry
tweed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweed
“tweed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweed. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tweed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweed.
Source: tweed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.