Link Centre Dictionary

nylon

ny·lon

UK/ˈnaɪlɒn/ US/ˈnaɪlɑn/ uncommon

noun

1.

a thermoplastic polyamide; a family of high-strength resilient synthetic materials

Origin

Coined by the company DuPont in 1938. According to the company, the name was formed from the random generic syllable nyl- + the common fiber suffix -on (as in rayon and Dacron), said to be ultimately from cotton.

Phrases

  • nylon-eating bacterium
  • nylon-string guitar

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.