kente cloth

noun

ken·​te cloth ˈken-ˌtā- How to pronounce kente cloth (audio)
: colorfully patterned cloth traditionally woven by hand in Ghana

called also kente

Examples of kente cloth in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But where’s the footage of her draped in a kente cloth while heretically bending the knee for George Floyd? Armond White, National Review, 25 Oct. 2023 With a 33-seat restaurant appointed with terra-cotta and indigo walls and handmade kente cloth pillows and lamps, as well as an upper-level bar and event space with standing room for 100, the new setup allows for plenty of room for its founder’s two creative outlets: dinner and D. J.ing. New York Times, 14 July 2022 Sporting a traditional headwrap made from Ghanaian kente cloth while holding up her trophy, Osaka paid tribute to the Haitian side of her family, where similar West African styles are used to mark significant or sentimental moments in their wearers’ lives. Liam Hess, Vogue, 14 Sep. 2020 Wearing kente cloth and kneeling on the floor? Meghana Indurti, The New Yorker, 3 Dec. 2022 Volunteers can wear a kente cloth or dashiki. Savannah Mehrtens, Houston Chronicle, 19 June 2020 The irony that seeing the VP in box braids is more shocking than the Democratic party kneeling in kente cloth is laughable. Leah Romero, ELLE, 10 Jan. 2023 The syncopation of transparent and opaque windows, alternating with ashlar panels, can suggest the patterns of kente cloth. Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2022 We were surrounded by a maze of folding tables, chairs, and couches draped in kente cloth. Marina Magloire, Harper’s Magazine , 9 Nov. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'kente cloth.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Twi kenté

First Known Use

1957, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of kente cloth was in 1957

Dictionary Entries Near kente cloth

Cite this Entry

“Kente cloth.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kente%20cloth. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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