Rug glossary
The words dealers, cleaners and appraisers use, in plain language.
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- Abrash
- A change of shade across a rug, seen as bands of lighter or darker color. It comes from wool dyed in small batches. In a handmade rug it is normal and often prized.
- Aniline dyes
- The first synthetic dyes, used in rugs from the 1860s. Many faded or ran, which is why a rug from that era may show odd, washed-out colors.
- Antique
- In the rug trade, usually a rug about 100 years old or older. U.S. Customs uses 100 years as the line for an antique.
- Asymmetrical knot
- A knot wrapped around one warp thread and passed under the next. It is also called the Persian or Senneh knot and allows fine, curving designs.
B
- Bokhara
- A trade name for rugs with rows of Turkmen-style medallions, named after the city of Bukhara, where many were sold.
- Border
- The frame of stripes and patterns around the field of a rug. A main border is often flanked by narrow guard borders.
- Boteh
- A teardrop or leaf shape with a curled tip, the motif behind the paisley pattern.
C
- Cartoon
- A drawing of the rug’s design on graph paper, one square for each knot, which the weaver follows.
- Chobi
- A style of rug with soft, earthy colors, often in Ziegler-style designs. The name comes from the Persian word for wood.
- Cut pile
- Pile made by cutting the yarn, so the tips of the fibers face up. Most hand-knotted rugs have cut pile.
D
- Dhurrie
- A flat-woven rug from India, often made of cotton.
F
- Field
- The main area of a rug inside the borders.
- Flatweave
- Any rug woven without pile, such as a kilim, soumak or dhurrie.
- Fringe
- On a hand-knotted rug, the ends of the warp threads that run through the whole rug. On tufted and machine-made rugs it is usually sewn or glued on.
G
- Gabbeh
- A thick, shaggy rug from southwestern Iran with simple designs and wide areas of color, traditionally woven by Qashqai and Luri tribes.
- Gul
- A medallion, often octagonal, repeated in rows on Turkmen rugs. Particular guls are linked to particular tribes.
H
- Hand-knotted
- Made by tying each knot of yarn by hand around the warp threads.
- Hand-tufted
- Made by punching yarn through a canvas with a tufting gun, then gluing a backing on. Quicker and cheaper than hand-knotting.
- Herati
- A repeating pattern of a rosette inside a diamond, flanked by curved leaves. It is one of the most common Persian patterns, also called the mahi or fish pattern.
J
- Jufti knot
- A knot tied around four warp threads instead of two. It halves the work but makes a thinner rug that wears faster.
K
- Kilim
- A flat-woven rug with no pile, made by weaving colored wefts in and out of the warps. Usually thin and reversible.
- KPSI
- Knots per square inch, the usual measure of how finely a rug is knotted.
L
- Lazy lines
- Faint diagonal lines in a rug or kilim where the weaver worked one section of the rug before the next. They are a sign of hand weaving, not a flaw.
M
- Medallion
- A large central shape, often round, oval or diamond, set in the field of a rug.
- Mihrab
- The arch at one end of a prayer rug, shaped like the prayer niche in a mosque.
- Mina khani
- A repeating pattern of flowers joined by a lattice of vines.
N
- Natural dyes
- Dyes made from plants, insects and minerals, such as madder root for red, indigo for blue and weld for yellow.
O
- Oriental rug
- A hand-knotted or flat-woven rug from the rug belt, which runs from Morocco across North Africa and the Middle East to Central Asia and northern India.
- Overcasting
- Yarn wrapped around the sides of a rug to finish the edges. It is often redone during repairs.
- Overdyed
- A rug, usually older, bleached and then dyed one strong color to give it a modern look.
P
- Palmette
- A fan-shaped flower motif, common in Persian city rugs. The large palmettes in many designs are called Shah Abbasi palmettes.
- Pile
- The surface of a rug made by the cut ends of the knots.
- Power-loomed
- Made on an electric loom. Machine-made rugs can copy handmade designs, but the back looks perfectly even and the fringe is sewn on.
- Prayer rug
- A small rug with a mihrab, or arch, at one end, used for prayer.
R
- Runner
- A long, narrow rug for a hallway or staircase.
S
- Selvedge
- The edge along the long sides of a rug, finished so the weaving does not come apart. Also spelled selvage.
- Soumak
- A flat-woven rug made by wrapping colored yarn around the warps, which gives a flat, braided look. Soumaks are thicker than kilims.
- Spandrel
- The corner sections of a rug’s field, often filled with part of the medallion design.
- Symmetrical knot
- A knot wrapped around both warp threads and pulled up between them. It is also called the Turkish or Ghiordes knot.
T
- Tea wash
- A treatment, usually chemical, that softens bright colors to make a rug look older.
V
- Vintage
- Usually a rug between about 20 and 100 years old. The word is used loosely.
W
- Warp
- The threads that run the length of a rug, strung on the loom before weaving. The knots are tied around them.
- Weft
- The threads woven across the rug between rows of knots, holding them in place.
Z
- Ziegler
- A style named after Ziegler & Co., a Manchester firm that commissioned rugs in Persia in the late 19th century. Ziegler designs have large, open patterns and softer colors.
Quick answers
What is the difference between a rug and a carpet?
In everyday use they mean much the same thing. Many people use carpet for wall-to-wall flooring or very large rugs, and rug for a piece you can move.
What does Oriental rug mean?
A handmade rug from the rug belt, the region from Morocco across North Africa and the Middle East to Central Asia and northern India.
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