Etymograph

English

rayon

Rayon may come from French rayon ‘a beam of light, ray’.

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentrayon1‘a beam of light, ray’uncertain
  2. Englishtodayrayon1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English rayon, which cites OED

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presentrayonWiktionary, English rayon, which cites OED‘a beam of light, ray’uncertain
  2. EnglishtodayrayonWiktionary, English rayon, which cites OED

A blend of ray + cotton

Latin radius ‘staff’

Old French rai ‘beam’

English ray

Aramaic כִיתָנָא

Arabic قُطُن ‘cotton’

Old Italian cotone

Anglo-Norman cotun

Middle English cotoun

English cotton

The story

Name chosen by the National Retail Dry Goods Association of America, probably from French rayon (‘a beam of light, ray’) and so called because it is shiny; however, the Oxford English Dictionary states that it is apparently a blend of ray + cotton.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from French rayon

Another origin of rayon

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*neredʰ-‘extend forth, rise, outward’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErādius‘a spoke of a wheel’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400rai‘beam’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600rayon‘ray, beam’
  5. Englishtodayrayon

Today it means

noun A manufactured regenerated cellulosic fiber.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “rayon”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / French rayon / rayon

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