calico
/ˈkæ.lɪ.kəʊ/US/ˈkæ.lɪ.koʊ/
calico noun: a kind of rough cloth made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton, often printed with a bright pattern. Also the ellipsis of calico cat.
Noun
calico (countable and uncountable, plural calicos or calicoes)
- A kind of rough cloth made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton, often printed with a bright pattern.
- This helix was covered with calico, and then a second wire applied in the same manner.1832, Michael Faraday, “Experimental Researches in Electricity”, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, volume 122, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 126
- Trussed in corsets, jawbone-high collars and calicos that had seen better days, they have little enough to work with, their attempts at coquetry further constrained by their rigid mores of the day.2017 June 30, Ruth La Ferla, “In ‘The Beguiled,’ Pretty Confections Whipped Up to Seduce”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- The plant disease caused by Tobacco mosaic virus.
Adjective
calico (not comparable)
- Made of calico or resembling the color of calico cloth, having a pattern of red and contrasting areas; variegated.
- The calico cat had distinctive red and dark markings.
- The calico-patterned tablecloths were supposed to make the restaurant look rustic; instead, they made it look run down.
- Synonyms:
- tortoiseshell
- Having red, brunette, and blond hair colors, resembling the fur of a calico cat.
Also used as
calico is also the ellipsis of calico cat.
calico meaning in Hindi, Persian, Thai and Vietnamese
calico in Hindi
- kind of cloth
- छींट chī̃ṭ, छीँट chī̃ṭ
calico in Persian
- kind of cloth
- متقال metqâl
calico in Thai
- cat
- สามสี, แมวสามสี
calico in Vietnamese
- cat
- mèo tam thể
Synonyms of calico
Forms of calico
| plural | calicos |
|---|---|
| plural | calicoes |
| alternative form (archaic) | callico |
Origin of calico
From Calicut, from where the cloth was originally exported, from Malayalam കോഴിക്കോട് (kōḻikkōṭŭ, “Kozhikode”), from കോഴി (kōḻi, “palace”) + കോട് (kōṭŭ, “fortified palace”).
Words formed from calico
Phrases with calico
Questions about calico
- What does calico mean?
- Calico means a kind of rough cloth made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton, often printed with a bright pattern.
- What is calico in Hindi?
- Calico in Hindi is छींट (chī̃ṭ), छीँट (chī̃ṭ). See Calico meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is calico?
- Calico can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce calico?
- Calico is pronounced /ˈkæ.lɪ.kəʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of calico?
- The plural of calico is calicos.
Words near calico in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: calico (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-calico.wav.
Cite this entry: “calico.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/calico. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.