tweed

Tweed is attested since the 1830s, likely a shortening or back-formation from Scots tweedling, a type of twilled cloth known since the 16th century and related to tweedle. Tweedling and tweedle are variants of tweeling and tweel, tracing back to Middle English twel or twyle, meaning a woven fabric or twill.

Scottish tradition holds that an English merchant misread 'tweeled' cloth as 'Tweed' in an 1831 letter and mistook it for a trade name tied to the River Tweed, but the DSL finds little evidence for this story, since English merchants would likely have known the word tweel already. Early citations from 1839, 1841, and 1845 treat 'tweed' simply as a new name for an already-familiar cloth.

Tweed shares roots with the English word twill, both descending from Middle English twel or twyle, referring to woven or twilled fabric.