kersey

ker·sey
K5E1R1S1E1Y4
UK/ˈkɜːzi/US/ˈkɝzi/

noun

A type of rough woollen cloth.

UncommonScrabble 13

Meanings

kersey1

nounkersey (countable and uncountable, plural kerseys)

plural kerseys

  1. countableuncountableA type of rough woollen cloth.

    Hencefoorth my wooing minde ſhalbe expreſt / In ruſſet yeas, and honeſt kerſie noes.

    c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]
    2 more examples

    [T]here was a Report, that one of our Ships having by Stealth delivered her Cargo, among which was ſome Bales of Engliſh Cloth, Cotton, Kerſyes, and ſuch like Goods, the Spaniards cauſed all the Goods to be burnt, and puniſhed the Men with Death who were concern'd in carrying them on Shore.

    1722, [Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year, London: Printed for E[lizabeth] Nutt at the Royal-Exchange; J. Roberts in Warwick-Lane; A. Dodd without Temple-Bar; and J. Graves in St. James's-street, →OCLC, page 247

    In Adirondac lakes, / At morn or noon, the guide rows bareheaded: / Shoes, flannel shirt, and kersey trousers make / His brief toilette […]

    1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Adirondacs”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC; republished Boston, Mass.: James R. Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1875, →OCLC, page 47

Kersey2

proper nounKersey (countable and uncountable, plural Kerseys)

plural Kerseys

  1. countableuncountableA village and civil parish in Babergh district, Suffolk, England (OS grid ref TL999904).
    1 more example

    The village itself, however, is invisible until you come to a corner with an archaic wooden pump high on the right bank, turn, and then suddenly, there it is - all of Kersey, running steeply down The Street to a water-splash through a tributary of the Brett, and up again, just as steeply, to the summit of Church Hill.

    1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, pages 237, 240, about Kersey, Suffolk
  2. countableuncountableA locality in Rocky View County, Alberta, Canada.
  3. countableuncountableA town in Weld County, Colorado, United States, derived from a maiden name.
  4. countableuncountableA habitational surname from Old English.

Origin

kersey · noun

  1. Middle Englishkersey
  2. Englishkersey

Inherited from Middle English kersey, perhaps from the village of Kersey in Suffolk, England, UK, in the region where the cloth was made.

Full word history & related roots →

Kersey · proper noun

  1. Proto-Germanic*krasjô
  2. Proto-West Germanic*krassjō
  3. Old Englishcærse
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ékʷeh₂
  5. Proto-Germanic*awjō
  6. Proto-West Germanic*auwju
  7. Old Englishīeġ
  8. EnglishKersey

From Old English cærse (“cress”) + īeġ (“island”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Spanish carisea
  • cariseatype of rough woollen cloth

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with kersey

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

kersey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kersey

MLA

“kersey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kersey. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kersey,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kersey.

Source: kersey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.