Carpets Glossary

Abrash - Color variation in the same color usually seen in an oriental carpet because of difference of yarn or batch color of the rug due to a difference in the wool or dye batch.

Antique Wash - A chemical bath that tones down colors to simulate aging.

Afshan - Another name for Afshar, now it is used to describes the presence of silk pile in an urban carpet.

Arbrush - A carpet pattern with a series of delicate stripes of a different tone closely paralleling each other, horizontally across.

Art Silk - Also called artificial silk it is made from mercerized cotton that appears similar to silk. The fiber is very soft to the touch and gives durability, affordability and low maintenance of cotton.

Aubuson - French flat carpets from the 15th to 19th Centuries.

Blend - A mixture of two or more fibers or yarns.

Border - The design forming the outer edge of a rug surrounding the main field.

Boteh - A small Oriental rug motif that resembles a pinecone or pear

Braided Rug - A rug made by braiding yarn around a core and shaping it into a rug.

Burn Test - A small tuft of fibers from a rug is burned to test for its content and the type of fiber.

Cloth Backed Rug - It refers to Tufted Rugs, that have a cloth backing.

Chanted Rugs - A technique used for the duplicate manufacture of the finest urban rugs.

Chi-Chi - Name for Caucasian type rugs made in Chechnia and Dagistan.

Chin Wool - The fine whiskers from the chin of sheep that are sometimes set aside for a special ceremonial carpet. They are considered finer than silk but are very rare.

Chrome Dye - Modern synthetic dyes.

Carpet Cushion or Rug Pad - A term used to describe material placed under carpet to provide softness and support.

Dhurrie - Traditional flat woven rug from India made of cotton or wool.

Field - The central area of the rug.

Flat Weave - A rug without pile.

Foundation - The combination of warps and wefts in the body of a rug.

Fringe - The warp ends that extend from the end of the rug.

Hooked Rug - Yarns are pushed through the back of a canvas cloth and pulled back through to form a design.

Kilim - Woolen flat weave rug from Turkey.

KPSI - Number of knots per square inch.

Natural Rug - These rugs are usually made of sisal, jute or wool. They are usually not dyed in colors.

Pile - It forms the face of the oriental rug formed by knotting the yarn to the wrap. Flat weaves do not have a pile.

Prayer Rug - Rugs having an arc in the pattern.

Resilience - Elasticity of the carpet. Ability of carpet pile or cushion to recover original thickness.

Sheen - A carpet having a high luster, usually produced by special chemical washing. Silk and high quality wool have natural sheen.

Tufted Carpet - A technique where the wool piles are punched in through the base cloth giving a general appearance of a hand knotted carpet. The tufts need to be anchored on a secondary backing for durability.

Vegetable Dyes - Natural dyes produced from berries, roots and bark.

Warp - String of Yarn that runs vertically on a loom forming the foundation of a woven carpet.

Weft -Yarns that are woven across the warp of a rug, along the width. For knotted carpets, they run the width after each roe of knots.

Wool - Fur of sheep.

Worsted - Before wool is spun into yarn, it is combed, then worsted to improve its quality by leaving only the longer pieces of fiber for final spinning. It is used for more intricate patterns.