Joseph Marie Jacquard

1 9.1

A French inventor who made a loom that lets people weave complex patterns easily

proper noun

: Joseph Marie Jacquard

The invention of the Jacquard loom by Joseph Marie Jacquard revolutionized the textile industry.

Examples

The invention of the Jacquard loom by Joseph Marie Jacquard revolutionized the textile industry.
Many museums display portraits of Joseph Marie Jacquard alongside his innovative loom.
Historians often credit Joseph Marie Jacquard as a pioneer in early programmable technology.
Did you know that Joseph Marie Jacquard was born in France?
Historians often credit Joseph Marie Jacquard as a pioneer in early programmable technology.
Many museums display portraits of Joseph Marie Jacquard alongside his innovative loom.
The invention of the Jacquard loom by Joseph Marie Jacquard revolutionized the textile industry.

Surface Forms

Joseph Marie Jacquard main

Morphology

Joseph + Marie + Jacquard

This is a personal name (a proper noun) and its meaning — that the person was a French inventor who created the Jacquard loom — cannot be derived from the constituent words. Proper names are non-compositional and require specific encyclopedic knowledge rather than knowledge of the individual words, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would not infer the inventor sense.

Etymology

Joseph Marie Jacquard was a French inventor who created the Jacquard loom, a machine that used punch cards so it could weave very detailed patterns without a person choosing each thread. That's why his name now refers to the loom and to early ideas of 'machines that follow a set of instructions'.