A misreading of Scots 'tweel' (twill) reinforced by the River Tweed — a happy accident turned fabric name.
A rough-surfaced woolen cloth, typically of mixed flecked colors, originally produced in Scotland.
The word 'tweed' originated as a misreading or misinterpretation of 'tweel,' the Scots form of 'twill' (a type of weave). According to the most widely accepted account, a London clerk in the 1830s misread 'tweel' on an invoice from a Scottish mill as 'tweed,' and the association with the River Tweed — which runs through the Scottish Borders region where the cloth was produced — made the name stick. The Scots word 'tweel' comes from Old English 'twili' (woven with a double thread), from 'twi-' (two). Whether the connection to the River Tweed was an accident or a happy coincidence that was deliberately exploited
The word 'tweed' was born from a clerical error. A London merchant in the 1830s apparently misread the Scots word 'tweel' (twill) on a Scottish invoice as 'tweed,' associating the fabric with the River Tweed that flows through the Scottish Borders where the cloth was woven. The mistake was so commercially useful — evoking Scottish rivers, Scottish countryside, Scottish ruggedness — that no one corrected it. Harris Tweed, produced on the Outer