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Acrylic	Manmade fabric that is soft and lightweight with a wool-like texture. Offers the appearance of wool at a lower cost. Sometimes blended with other fibers, most often appears in bath rugs and mats.
All-over design	A pattern which is repeated throughout the field; no center medallion.
Aubusson	A 17th century French style consisting of floral medallions with some architectural and floral motifs.
Carpet pad	An assortment of different materials placed under an area rug to provide softness and longer wear when it is walked on.
Cotton	Natural fiber manufactured from seeds of the cotton plant. Fabric is soft and absorbent. Cotton is strong and cleans easily.
Curvilinear	Patterns created with smooth, curving lines.
Cut pile	The face of a rug where the surface is made up of cut ends of yarn.
Dhurrie	A rug that is usually wool or cotton, has a flat weave, and is reversible. Most are imported from India.
Flat braid	The oldest type of braid, consisting of of weaving three of more "ropes" into a single braid. Flat braid is often referred to as "authentic" braid since this method was originally used by the Egyptians and later by the Pilgrims.
Flat weave	No knots are used in this rug making process. Weft starnds are passed through warp strands.
Flokati	A rug that is woven or knitted with tufts of sheared goat's hair is usually left in its natural color (cream or brown).
Fringe	The excess warp threads extending from the end of the rug, which add a decorative trim.
Hand-hooked	Rug making process by which the pattern is stenciled onto the backing material. Then yarn (typically wool) is pulled from the back of the rug toward the front to form a pile of loops using a hand-held hook. When the hooking is complete, backing is attached to anchor the stitches.
Hand-knotted	Rug making process by which weavers knot pile yarns around warp fibers. More valuable rugs tend to have a higher number of knots per square inch.
Handmade	Constructed by hand rather than machine made. Rugs that are hand-knotted, hand-tufted, hand-hooked, hand-loomed, etc.
Indoor/outdoor	A term synonymous with outdoor carpet; designed to be used outside.
Jute	Coarse, rope-like natural fiber often used in rugs and carpet backings.
Kilim	A tapesrty-like flat-weave rug that originated in Romania.
Loop pile	The surface of a rug is made up of uncut loops.
Machine made	A rug constructed by a machine that is typically controlled by a computer.
Medallion	A large design found in the center of some rugs.
Modacrylic	Acrylic yarns that have been modified for added quality and to resist fire.
Natural fiber	Fibers such as cotton, silk, wool, sisal, seagrass and jute that are derived from natural sources.
Needlepoint rug	Rugs made with wool yarn worked on a canvas using the same method as a needlepoint pillow.
Neoclassical	A revival of ancient Greek and Roman styles in art and architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries, which was characterized by order, symmetry ans simplicity.
Nylon	Synthetic fiber produced from petroleum products. Wear and soil resisant and easily cleaned, nylon is resillient and withstands heavy traffic and the weight and movement of furniture.
Olefin	Predominant machine-woven synthetic fiber. Affordable, strong and colorfast with a soft wool-like feel. Resists wear and stains.
Oriental rug	Hand-knotted pile rug woven in complex or geometric patterns.
Pile	The surface of the rug; it is sometimes called the "nap" or "face".
Polypropylene	A synthetic fiber that is colorfast, mold and mildew resistant, with excellent wearability and is easily cleaned.
Rag rug	Plain weave rug that is woven with wide strips of fabric.
Runner	A long, narrow strip of rug, designed for use in stairways and hallways.
Sarouk	A type of rug woven with a good quality wool using an asymmetrical knot. The rugs can be geometric or curvilinear in pattern.
Savonnerie	A hand-knotted, usually pastel, rug with a floral medallion set in an open field with broken borders. Made in France. The style is often the model for most of today's Indian and Persian rugs.
Silk	A natural fiber reeled from silkworm cocoons.
Sisal	Natural, coarse, rope-like fiber, used in woven rugs. Produced by the agave plant in Yucatan.
Soumak	A group of flat-woven rugs where no knots are used in the weave.
Tabriz	Tabriz designs are the most diverse designs of Iran. Tabriz weavers use many different Persian and universal designs and motifs in their weaving. Often rather than directly copying these designs, they use their own interpretations.
Tapestry	A thick fabric with a reversible design made by weaving colored threads on a warp. Usually depicting a picture or design.
Tibetan	The distinguishing characteristics of Tibetan rugs are their vivid colors, huge and few motifs, and relatively plain and dominant backgrounds. The background colors are usually blue, black, red, orange and less frequently yellow or ivory. The motifs are woven in red, orange, pink, yellow, beige, blue, green and white. The designs are either geometric or curvilinear.
Transitional	A broad style category that falls between traditional and contemporary. Many floral patterns are included in this category.
Tufted	A rapid and economical method by which a rug may be produced. Rug yarns are pushed through a primry backing and then secured with an adhesive backing. How far the yarns penetrate beynd the face of the backing will determine the height of the pile.
Warp	Yarns running lengthwise in fabric, parallel to the selvage. Filling, or weft, yarns are passed crosswise through themin the weaving process. These threads of yarn, upon which the weaver ties the knots, runs the entire length of the rug.
Weft	Threads of yarn that run across the width of a rug between the warp threads to hold the knots in place. Also called filling yarns.
Wool	A natural fiber produced from the fleece of sheep. It is an excellent insulator and is noted for its softness.
Worsted	Tightly twisted yarn spun from combed, stapled wool fibers of the same length. Produces a compact, smooth weave with no nap.
Bamboo
Carbonized	Carbonizing is a process where the bamboo is steamed at a higher temperature for a period of time there by changing the color of the sugars and starches in the wood.
Engineered	Engineered floors meanthat the layers are "cross-laminated": the grain of the top layer runs North-South. The grain of the middle layer, or core, runs East-West. The grain of the backing layer runs North-South.
Floating floor	Instead of nailing or gluing the planks to the sub-floor, the boards are edge-glued together above an underlayment such as recycled rubber. Floating floors can be installed over a concrete sub-floor and over radiant heat.
Horizontal grain	Horizontal grain floors orient the wider horizontal edge of the splints upward.
Natural/blonde	The natural color of bamboo.
Vertical grain	Vertical grain floors orient the thinner edge of the splits upward.
Tile
Ceramic tile	Heat-resistant and corrosion resistant materials made by shaping and then firing a nonmetallic mineral, such as clay, at a high temperature.
Chair rail	A piece of molding attached to the wall to prevent the chair from damaging the wall.
Decos	Square tile inserts
Glass tile	Tile made up of glass.
Listello	A strip tile, similar to a chair rail.
Mosaic	Tiles that are patterned in small squares.
Porcelain tile	A hard, white, translucent creamic made by firing a pure clay and then glazing it with variously colored fusible materials.
Hardwood
Burls	Very small swirls in the grain.
Engineered	Flooring consists of layers of wood pressed together with the grains running different directions. Enginnered flooring is a good choice for areas in the house where solid wood flooring would not be suitable--basements, kitchens and utility rooms.
Grade	A standard category that defines the general apoearance of wood.
Grain	The parallel composition of the woo fibers.
Knot	Round, dark patches left by the branches growing through the grain of wood.
Plain sawn	Plain sawn is the most common cut. 98% of the lumber produced in the world is lain sawn. The board contains more variation than both quartersawn and riftsawn because grain patterns resulting from the growth rings are more obvious.
Parquet	Wood flooring that is inlaid to create patterns, mostly geometric.
Plank flooring	Wood flooring made up of long boards that are more than three inches wide.
Prefinished	Flooring that already has some kind of finish on it--urethane, stain or wax. Prefinished comes with some great benefits: longer finish warranties, uniform stain application and a cleaner environment.
Quartersawn	Quartersawing produces less board feet per log than plainsawing and is therefore more expensive. Quartersawn wood twists less and wears more evenly.
Riftsawn	Riftsawn is similar to quartersawn but the cut is made at a different angle.
Solid	All wood flooring that is one peice of wood from top to bottom. Solid flooring allows you to customize your floor using different species, stains and finishes.
Streak	A dark line following the grain.
Unfinished	Any unstained, waxed or urethaned wood flooring. Unfinished may be a good choice if you are trying to match existing wood flooring.

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