hessian

IPA/ˈhesiən/
KK[hˈɛʃən]IPA/ˈheʃn/

hessian — noun

1. a strong, rough cloth, usually brown, made from plant fibres and used for sacks,

1.nounB2
Definition

a strong, rough cloth, usually brown, made from plant fibres and used for sacks, bags, and wrapping material

Example

Kamal filled the hessian sack with coffee beans from the drying rack.

collocation: hessian sack

The gardener wrapped each young tree in hessian to protect it from frost.

collocation: wrapped in hessian

Common collocations
  • hessian sack
  • hessian bag
  • hessian wrapping
  • hessian sheet
Synonyms
  • burlap

    the American English equivalent; same cloth, different name

  • sackcloth

    more old-fashioned or biblical; often implies coarser quality and penitence

  • jute

    refers to the plant fibre itself, not the finished woven cloth

Usage Note

In American English, this cloth is called burlap. Hessian is typically uncountable; use 'a piece of hessian' rather than 'a hessian' when referring to a single sheet.

Common Mistakes

I bought a hessian at the shop.
I bought a piece of hessian at the shop.
hessian is uncountable; you cannot say 'a hessian' to mean a single piece of the material.
The bag was made of hessian cloth material.
The bag was made of hessian.
'hessian' already means the cloth; adding 'cloth' or 'material' is redundant.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Hessian and burlap refer to exactly the same coarse woven fabric — the difference is regional: hessian is the standard term in British English, while burlap is used in American English. A British gardener buys hessian sheets; an American one buys burlap rolls. Sackcloth is a more old-fashioned word for the same type of cloth, but it carries a strong biblical and literary association with mourning or penance (wearing sackcloth and ashes). Jute is different: it names the glossy plant fibre that hessian is woven from, not the finished cloth itself. You would say a sack is made of hessian, not made of jute — though you might say it is made of jute fibre.

burlap ↗sackcloth ↗jute ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • hessian sack
  • hessian bag
  • hessian sheet
  • hessian fabric

Phrases

  • a piece of hessian
  • a roll of hessian

Prepositions

  • in hessian
  • of hessian

Etymology

GermanEnglish

Hessian takes its name from Hesse (Hessen), a state in central Germany. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the region produced large quantities of hemp, which was woven into a coarse, durable cloth and exported widely. British traders began calling the fabric 'hessian' after its place of origin, and the name stuck even as production moved elsewhere.

First known use

1710

1710, in the meaning defined at sense 1a