fabric

 
Pronunciation: /ˈfabrɪk/

noun

[mass noun]
  • 1cloth produced by weaving or knitting textile fibres: heavy cream fabric [count noun]: stretch fabrics
  • 2the walls, floor, and roof of a building: decay and neglect are slowly eating away at the building’s fabric
  • the body of a car or aircraft: we heard creaking and rushing noises in the car’s fabric
  • the basic structure of a society, culture, activity, etc.: the multicultural fabric of Canadian society

Origin:

late 15th century: from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica 'something skilfully produced', from faber 'worker in metal, stone, etc.' The word originally denoted a building, later a machine, the general sense being 'something made', hence fabric (sense 1) (mid 18th century, originally denoting any manufactured material). fabric (sense 2) dates from the mid 17th century