meaning.today

calico

noun, adjective

In short

Calico is a cotton fabric. In American English, it can also refer to a cat or another animal with a patchy, multicolored coat. The cloth meaning differs somewhat between British and American usage.

A British reference to calico may mean plain cotton cloth; an American reference often means printed cotton fabric.

What does calico mean?

Cloth and cats

In British usage, calico commonly refers to a plain cotton cloth. In American usage, it commonly refers to cotton fabric with a printed pattern.

In American English, a calico can also be a cat with a coat of distinct colored patches. The fabric and animal uses belong in the same entry: the animal coloring was named by comparison with the patterned cloth.

Is every use of calico about a cat?

No. A calico bag, a length of calico and a calico dress are references to fabric. A calico sitting on a windowsill is likely a cat.

Calico and tuxedo describe different appearances in cats. Calico means a patchy, multicolored coat; tuxedo describes contrasting fur that resembles evening wear. Neither describes a separate cat breed, and the patterns are not interchangeable.

A smiling calico cat sits upright with separate green, gold and cream patches on its coat, beside a folded swatch of patterned cotton cloth.

Where does it come from?

Calico takes its name from Calicut, now Kozhikode, a port in India associated with the cloth trade. The fabric name later spread to the patchy coloring of animals. Sources give different early dates for the English word, so this entry does not assign it a single year of origin.

How to use it in a sentence

“She cut a pattern from a piece of plain calico.”

“A calico cat slept beside the window.”

“The old dress was made from printed calico.”

Sources and updates

Definitions and examples are written in our own words from the sources above. Published . Updated .