Check (pattern)

A check (or checker, Brit: chequer,[1] checkerboard, chequerboard) is a pattern consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical lines forming squares.

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Etymology

The word is derived from the ancient Persian word shah, meaning "king", from the oriental game of chess, played on a squared board, particularly from the expression shah mat, "the king is dead", in modern chess parlance "check-mate". The word entered the French language as echec in the 11th.c.,[2] thence into English.

Use in fabrics

Check-patterned fabrics display bands in two or more colors in woven cloth. Checks are traditionally associated with Scotland where woven dyed wool was, at one time, a principal cloth. District checks were created as camouflage for moving inconspicuously on the laird's lands. The checks are associated with a specific area as opposed to the tartan of a family or clan. Checks are also used as distinctive patterns for woven cloth in modern designs.

Other uses

The check pattern is also used in many other areas other than textile styles, for example on a board used by the mediaeval Exchequer to perform financial computations and on a board used for playing chequers (English draughts) and chess and for heraldry.

See also

Sources

References

  1. ^ Collins Dictionary of the English Language
  2. ^ Larousse Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise, Lexis, Paris, 1993