Cotton velvet. Velvet is one of the few original silk fabrics without a French etymology; its comes from Latin velvetum, meaning either "shaggy" or "downy". (Any Latinists who can enlighten us on this distinction are humbly begged to do so.) A cut-pile fabric, woven with an extra warp yarn. Plain or twill backed. Can be woven of many types of fibers; once only of silk, now very commonly of rayon, viscose, cotton and blends of these.
