The Captain’s Log

Toplevel | Pontifications of The Great and Terrible Captain Cucamunga.

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:54:47 EST

Corduroy

The cord in corduroy is cord in the sense of string. Duroy names a woolen fabric popular in the 18th century. The fabric was also called durant and durance. Corduroy is ribbed duroy.

The noun corduroy does not derive from corde du roi, which means king’s rope in French. Corduroy in French is velours côtelé, which means ribbed velvet.