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Glite Dictionary
hound's-tooth check

hound's-tooth check

7.9
A cloth pattern of small broken checks usually black and white
  • noun
  • /ˈhaʊndz tuθ tʃɛk/
translation icon : pata de gallo
  • Her fashion statement for the day featured a very large-scale black-and-yellow hound's-tooth check on linen with a Peter Pan collar.

Examples

  • His jacket was made of a classic black-and-white hound's-tooth check pattern that never went out of style.

  • She chose a scarf adorned with a traditional hound's-tooth check design to complete her outfit.

  • The designer displayed a stunning collection that included trousers in a bold hound's-tooth check fabric.

Synonyms

check
vshound's-tooth check
20 3.3

A pattern of small squares, like a chessboard or tablecloth

refers specifically to small broken jagged checks rather than broad squares
dog's-tooth check
vshound's-tooth check
  • UK
9.1

A small jagged check pattern on fabric often black and white

is the same pattern but named differently
houndstooth check
vshound's-tooth check
7.7

A cloth pattern of small jagged checks in two colors

is the same pattern but usually specified as black and white
dogstooth check
vshound's-tooth check
  • Specialized
7.7

A cloth pattern with small jagged checks like a dog's tooth

is focused on the pattern itself rather than its fabric use

Surface Forms

hound's-tooth check singular
hound's-tooth checks plural

Morphology

hound's-tooth + check

The word 'check' clearly signals a fabric pattern so learners will expect a design, but 'hound's-tooth' is an established, lexicalized name whose literal parts ('hound' + 'tooth') do not directly or reliably convey 'small broken or jagged checks' to a B1 learner. The compound gives a partial visual clue (tooth-like jagged shapes) but is conventional and varies cross-linguistically, so comprehension is only partially predictable from the constituents.

Etymology

Hound's-tooth check comes from the small broken, jagged marks in the cloth that look like a hound's-tooth and form tiny checks. That's why the name now refers to a repeated checked fabric design, often made in black and white.