'Satin' likely derives from Zaytun, the Arabic name for China's great silk port of Quanzhou.
A smooth, glossy fabric, typically of silk, produced by a weave in which warp threads are caught and looped by the weft at wide intervals.
From Old French 'satin,' from Arabic 'زيتوني' (zaytūnī, from Zayton), the Arabic name for the Chinese port of Quanzhou (泉州) in Fujian province, one of the greatest trading ports of medieval China. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Quanzhou was a major departure point for silk exports to the Arab world and beyond. The Arabic name 'Zaytūn' (sometimes spelled Zaitun) may derive from the Arabic word for 'olive' (zaytūn), possibly applied
The word 'satin' likely traces back to Quanzhou, China — known to medieval Arab traders as 'Zaytūn' — one of the world's largest ports during the Song and Yuan dynasties. Marco Polo visited it in the 1290s and called it 'the greatest port in the world.' Ibn Battuta visited in the 1340s and described enormous junks loaded with silk. The Arab traders who carried silk from Quanzhou to the Mediterranean named the glossy fabric after its port of origin. By the time the word reached