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jute

 
Dictionary: jute   (jūt) pronunciation
n.
  1. Either of two Asian plants (Corchorus capsularis or C. olitorius) yielding a fiber used for sacking and cordage.
  2. The fiber obtained from these plants.

[Bengali jhuṭo, from Sanskrit jūṭaḥ, twisted hair, probably of Dravidian origin.]


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Either of two herbaceous annuals (Corchorus capsularis and C. olitorius, in the linden family), or their fibre. The plants grow 10 – 12 ft (3 – 4 m) high and have long, serrated, tapered, light green leaves and small yellow flowers. Jute has been grown and processed in the Bengal area of India and Bangladesh since ancient times. Its biggest use is in burlap sacks and bags, which are used to ship and store many agricultural products. High-quality jute cloths are used as backing for tufted carpets and hooked rugs. Coarser jute fibres are made into twines, rough cordage, and doormats.

For more information on jute, visit Britannica.com.

Word Origins: jute
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from Bengali
This word originated in Bangladesh

Only three languages in the world are spoken by more people than Bengali. And Bengali-speaking Bangladesh leads the world in exporting jute, our most important import from that language.

Jute entered English in the eighteenth century when English trade began in earnest with India and Bengal. The log of the English ship Wake notes at 8 a.m. on September, 22, 1746: "Sent on shore 60 Bales of Gunney belonging to the Company with all the Jute Rope ... 20 Ropes in all, 116 Bundles."

Jute is a natural fiber, made from the bark of a tree also known as jute that grows especially in the Brahmaputra River valley of present-day Bangladesh. The "gilden fiber" makes not only ropes, yarn, and twine but also mats, rugs, bags, shoes, and clothes. As it became known and widely traded, jute displaced flax as the chief plant fiber of the English-speaking world. Flax mills in Dundee, Scotland, for example, converted to jute in the nineteenth century.

With nearly two hundred million speakers, Bengali is the fourth most populous language in the world, behind only Chinese, English, and Spanish, and ahead of Russian, Japanese, German, French, Arabic, and all others. It is an Indo-European language belonging to the Indo-Iranian and Indic branches. Other English words from Bengali include chaulmoogra (a tree, 1815) and gavial (a crocodile, 1825). The word bungalow (1676) comes from the name Bengali but is actually a Hindi word meaning "of Bengal."



Architecture: jute
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A plant fiber; forms a cheap, strong, durable yarn; used in the manufacture of canvas and hessian and for the backing of carpet to add strength and stiffness.


 
jute (jūt), name for any plant of the genus Corchorus, tropical annuals of the family Tiliaceae (linden family), and for its fiber. Many species yield fiber, but the chief sources of commercial jute are two Indian species (C. capsularis and C. olitorius), grown primarily in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys. Although jute adapts well to loamy soil in any hot and humid region, cultivation and harvesting require abundant cheap labor, and India remains the unrivaled world producer as well as the chief fiber processor. Kolkata (Calcutta) is the main center. Europe and the United States import large quantities of jute fiber and cloth; Dundee, Scotland, is also a major jute-textile manufacturer. The fiber strands in the bark are 6 to 10 ft long (2-3 m) and are separated from the woody stalk centers by retting. The fiber deteriorates quickly and, because of its uneven diameter and comparatively low cellulose content, is relatively weak. However, because of its low cost and the ease of dyeing and spinning, jute is the principal coarse fiber in commercial production and use. About 90% is spun into yarn for fabrics; the better qualities supply burlap and the poorer grades are used for baling and sacking (e.g., gunny sacks). It is also used for twine, rope, carpet and linoleum backing, and insulation. The discarded lower ends, called jute butts, are used for paper manufacture. The plant, cultivated in India from remote times, has been known to Western commerce only since about 1830. Jute is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Malvales, family Tiliaceae.


Translations: Jute
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - jute

n. - en af de tre germanske stammer der erobrede England i 5. årh., jyde

Nederlands (Dutch)
jute, Jutlander

Français (French)
n. - jute

n. - Jute

Deutsch (German)
n. - Jute

n. - (hist.) Jüte

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - γιούτα

Italiano (Italian)
iuta

Português (Portuguese)
n. - juta (f)

Русский (Russian)
джут

Español (Spanish)
n. - yute, cáñamo de las Indias

n. - miembro de una tribu germánica de Jutlandia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - jute

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
朱特人, 朱特族

黄麻, 麻纤维

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 朱特人, 朱特族

n. - 黃麻, 麻纖維

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 주트족

n. - 황마

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ジュート族の人, ジュート族, ツナソ, 黄麻, ジュート

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جوي قنب هندي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮יוטה, צמח היוטה‬
n. - ‮יוטי - בן לשבט גרמני שהתיישב במחוז קנט בבריטניה במאות 5-6 לספירה‬


Shopping: jute
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Learn More
jute board (materials)
jute paper (materials)
reinforced bitumen felt

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Origins. The World in So Many Words, by Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
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