swatch
n. countablen. a small piece of cloth or material that shows what a fabric looks like. You use it to check the color or texture before buying a larger amount.
n. a small sample of fabric, paint, or other material used for comparison or testing. Often used in the context of textile manufacturing or interior design to ensure color consistency.
The shopkeeper showed me a swatch of the blue fabric.
Before ordering the curtains, the decorator asked for a swatch of the velvet to see how it looked in the morning light.
The textile mill produced a series of swatches to demonstrate the subtle variations in dye depth that occur during the natural drying process of the silk.
From earlier Northern England dialectal swache (“the counterfoil or counterstock of a tally”) (1512); further etymology unknown. Cognate with Scots swach, swatch. Compare English swath, swathe. Compare also Old English swæcc (“taste; flavour; odour; fragrance”).
Unknown; originally used chiefly in the East of England.