Hello guys,
I’ve read lots if different sources on this, and there are so many opinions. So I’d really appreciate your thoughts and experience.
I’m especially interested in the meaning all three words share – made of wool – as in ‘… socks/blanket’ or ‘these mittens are …” .
Some sources say ‘woollen’ and ‘woolly’ are only British spellings, some say these spellings are also used in the US.
Some say that the word ‘wool(l)en’ is falling off and ‘wool’ is way more commonly used. Some disagree.
What do you guys think? Which ones do you prefer?
Thank you very much!
32 comments
The stuff on a sheep is wool.
Garments are made of wool and feel woolly to the touch.
I know what is meant by a ‘woollen’ garment but I would never use the word myself.
Wool.
I would only say wooly in regards to a wooly bear caterpillar. Woolen sounds very technical.
I wouldn’t use woollen, but I know what it means.
The others are common.
I think wooly and woolen would be understood in the US, and used.
Everyone would understand your meaning if you say “woolly” or “woolen”, but for the most part we say “wool”. Wouldn’t cause a record scratch or anything.
The word “wooly” is mostly used in its more figurative sense, [definitions 2 and 3 under the first entry on Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woolly). I’d understand “woolly” used to describe a fabric, but can’t think of it ever being used.
I’ve also used woolly to describe problems, to mean “complicated”, as in having lots of details or threads to the problem that need to be addressed.
Wool is most common here, followed by woolen. I associate woolen with stores/manufacturers called “woolen mills” around the Midwest.
I think of woolly as an adverb to describe an animal’s fur not used to describe a product.
Of course, what I really think of when I hear the word woolly is Jeff Spicoli and the song Woolly Bully.
Edit: Misspelled the first word in my comment!
>Some sources say ‘woollen’ and
Not used in my years.
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>’woolly’ are only British spellings, some say these spellings are also used in the US.
Definitely used by me to mean fuzzy, warm… as in “wear a woolly sweater to keep warm today. ” Or wear some woolly socks. Or something along those lines.
Wool = the fabric, material to make what ever.
Woolen may still be used in the clothing industry, fabric/material industries, but as a common place use term in America, no.. I’ve never used nor heard it.
I’m familiar with all three words.
I’d say “wool socks.” Or “woolen socks” if I was being quaint. Wool is more common. Woolen would be used in specific, more literary situations.
I use woolly to describe something that isn’t made of wool, but feels like wool. A dog’s fur/coat might feel woolly. Or… a Woolly Mammoth feels Woolly.
And i am totally confused about whether or not to use 2 “L’s” when spelling woolly and woollen.
ETA – I am terribly allergic to wool, so I might just substitute “itchy as hell” for wool, woollen and woolly.
Woolen sounds old fashioned to me, as in “bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens”.
Wooly would be used to describe a texture and, to me at least, implies that the material is not actually wool.
>I’m especially interested in the meaning all three words share – made of wool
I don’t know if it’s the same in American English but these aren’t exactly synonyms in British English. *Wooly* means “wool-like” but not necessarily “made of wool”. You could have a “wooly jumper” that was both made of wool and “wool-like” (having a thick, fluffy texture) but you could also have a suit made of wool that would not be described as wooly, because it lacked a wooly texture. You could also have a “wooly jumper” that was made of synthetic fabric. “Woollen” means “made of wool” whether or not the item is actually wooly.
>Oh she may get woolly, women do get woolly, because of all the stress…
Quote from one of my favorite movies. Anyone?
Mostly we just use “wool.” But I’m one of those folks who pick up words people drop everywhere and somewhere along the way I started calling all of my scarves and gloves and such my “winter woolies.” Is that a UK term?
wool – the natural fiber (fleece) used in textile manufacture
woolen – something made from wool
woolly – may describe something that has the loft characteristics of a sheep, fleece or carded wool (woolly mammoth, wooly bear caterpillar, woolly clouds) or something that actually contains wool
The usage as I understand and use them.
Woolly is. [Oh she may get woolly, women do get woolly, because of all the stress…](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EroyjPcw3sg)
In my brain:
Woolen/wool=made of wool (I just use whichever one rolls off the tongue better at the moment)
Woolly=textured like a sheep’s wool, even if not actually wool
wool, yes. I don’t know of any other word for the fiber that comes from sheep
woolen, yes, one L here. but (to me anyway) as an adjective it seems interchangeable with just “wool.” like I could say “woolen socks” or just “wool socks”
in my experience I’ve only seen “woolly” used exclusively in the context of mammoths
I use all 3, but woolen spelled with one L. I use wool the most, woolen probably second (I go to museums a lot, and I end up using this if I’m talking about textile production), i.e. “woolen garments”. I wouldn’t use it in casual conversation though, that would be weird. I use woolly maybe once a year to refer to texture.
Wool and Woolen are both used, but I only really hear Woolly in animal names like “Woolly Mammoth” or “Woolly Sheep”
Wooly can just describe something fuzzy, like a wooly worm caterpillar(Festival in Banner Elk, NC) Also as a kid we called disheveled animals or people as wooly boogers, lol.
yes.
Wool – both a noun and an adjective.
Woolen – adjective, not commonly used, but acceptable.
Wooly – I’d only use that to modify “mammoth”.
All three are used.
Wool is the material. Being fibrous and tough is “wooly.” But you can even describe a caterpillar with hairs as wooly as well as socks made of wool.
Woolen describes the characteristic of actually being made of wool. While wooly can describe more things that are like wool.
Wool felt might be described as woolen but it doesn’t necessarily feel woolen. But it is made of wool.
In my experience, it would be uncommon to hear an American say “Get me my woolen socks please, it’s cold outside!” That is a correct use of the word and Americans would know what you are saying, however in almost every context I can think of an American would say “Get me my **wool** socks please, it’s cold outside!”
Wool is a noun. My socks are made of wool. Woolen is an adjective. These are my woolen socks. Woolly is an adjective but only means wool-like rather than definitely made of wool. My acrylic blanket feels very woolly.
Woolen has a very specific definition in the fiber-arts world; woolen-spun yarns have the wool fibers jumbled up and going every which way, and worsted-spun is made with the fibers combed so they lay the same direction.
Outside of that, wool and wooly are used for often. Woolen isn’t a word you’ll hear very often.
Wool. Woolen sounds like a medieval article of clothing. Wooly is for things that aren’t wool but of a similar texture, or mammoths, or bullys.
Woolen is falling by the wayside as keyword optimization is encouraging both the shortest common letter string and conforming to the wording on the content labels, which are always the noun form.
I also feel like it’s a categorical term rather than a descriptive one. Socks can be divided into cotton, woolen, and silken based on their primary (to behavior) fiber, but a given pair will be wool or a wool blend. It’s somewhat similar to how “synthetic” is what you call a pile of garments while each item will probably be called by the specific type of synthetic it’s made of. This is also a challenge to its use as we seek specificity in shopping.
Wool E. Bull is the mascot to the local AAA baseball team. The Durham Bulls. As made famous by the movie Bull Durham.
It’s true that a lot of people say “wool socks” rather than “woolen/woolen socks” now. After all, we say “cotton socks” not “cottony socks” or something, so it follows the pattern. But I assume most people will know what woolen means.
Wooly is more a descriptor as in Wooly Mammoth than a question of the literal material of sheep’s wool.
By the way, if you want a sense of spelling and sometimes usage, I encourage using Mirrriam-Webster or American Heritage dictionaries as easy, reliable, free dictionary websites. If you scroll down they sometimes have usage information. The British dictionaries can act like the UK/American differences are absolute, when in fact there are multiple options in America, e.g. grey with an e is an accepted alternative, not just a British spelling, wooly can have one L or two.
I use all three.
Hang on, just gotta take off these woolful earmuffs, then I had better put on my woolified sweater before my woolied socks, oh and would you go down to Woolifornication and pick up the new Red Hot Wooly Peppers album?