Named after Calicut (now Kozhikode) on India's Malabar Coast, where European traders first encountered printed cotton.
A plain-woven cotton textile, typically unbleached or printed with a bright pattern; in American English, also a multicolored patchwork pattern (especially in 'calico cat').
From Calicut (now Kozhikode), a port city on the Malabar Coast of Kerala, southwestern India. Calicut was one of the most important trading ports in the Indian Ocean and was the first Indian city visited by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498. European traders named the locally produced cotton fabric after the city. The city
Calico is named after Calicut (now Kozhikode), India — the very city where Vasco da Gama first landed in 1498, opening the sea route from Europe to Asia. The fabric was so central to Indian Ocean trade that its name became generic for all printed cotton. In an etymological twist, 'calico cat' (the American term for a multicolored cat) is named after the fabric's bright printed patterns, not after the city directly