Khaki

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Khaki

This article is about the fabric
Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
. For the colour, see Khaki (color)
Khaki (color)

The name of the color khaki coined in British India comes from the Hindustani language usage of the incorporated Persian language and Lurish word khak meaning dust, and khaki meaning dusty, dust covered or earth colored....
. Kaki, another name for the persimmon
Persimmon

A persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the gods" is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees of the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family ....
, is often misspelled "Khaki". Khaki ( in Britain; in the US; , , or, increasingly, in Canada) (in Persian

Persian language

Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
or the colour of such fabric. The name comes from the Persian

Persian language

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, specifically via the British Indian Army

British Indian Army

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Encyclopedia

Persian language

Textile

Persian language

India

British Indian Army

The Indian Army was the principal army of the British Raj in India during the last half-century before the Partition of India of India in 1947....
. khakis: There are two common, and not too dissimilar, definitions of the word "khaki": One is that it is a Hindi word meaning earth-coloured or dust-coloured; The other is that the idiomatic Hindi for faeces is "khaki" and, in fact, many ex-British Army colonialists are familiar with the word "khaki" as the equivalent of the English "shit". Regardless of its precise etymology, "khaki" refers to the colour of uniforms introduced by the army regiments in the 1880s. More accurately, the correct shade of "khaki" is the colour of "Multani Mitti", meaning "the mud of Multan". Multan

Multan

is a city in the Punjab of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province. Multan District has a population of over 3.8 million and the city itself is the sixth largest within the boundaries of Pakistan....
was a well known military cantonment

Cantonment

A cantonment is a temporary or semi-permanent military quarters. The word cantonment is derived from the French language word :fr:canton meaning corner or district....
of British India (now in Pakistan).

In 1846 Sir Harry Lumsden

Harry Burnett Lumsden

Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Burnett "Joe" Lumsden was a United Kingdom military officer active in India.Lumsden was born aboard the British East India Company?s ship Rose in the Bay of Bengal, the son of a British Army Colonel Thomas Lumsden, C.B....
raised a corps of Guides

Corps of Guides (British India)

The Corps of Guides was a regiment of Britain's Indian Army. It was a unit with a formidable reputation for excellence, innovation, individual initiative, endurance, daring and toughness in battle....
for frontier service from Indian recruits at Peshawar

Peshawar

is the capital of the North-West Frontier Province and the administrative centre for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan."Peshawar" literally means The High Fort in Persian language and is known as Pekhawar in Pashto....
. Regiments serving in the region had adopted properly dyed khaki uniforms for active service and summer dress. The original khaki fabric was a closely twilled cloth of linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
or cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
. The British Army

British Army

The British Army is the Army branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707....
adopted khaki for the campaign dress in 1897, and it was used in the Second Boer War

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902, between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Fre...
(1899-1902). A darker shade of khaki serge

Serge

Serge is a type of twill textile that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave. The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms, suit s, great and trench coats....
was adopted for home service dress in 1902.

The United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
adopted khaki during the Spanish American War (1898). It has become de rigueur
De rigueur

De rigueur is a French language expression that literally means "of rigor" or "of strictness". In English language usage, it means "necessary according to etiquette, protocol or fashion."...
for military uniforms of militaries

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
the world over (e.g. the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the navy of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy currently has approximately 331,682 personnel on active duty as of 31 December 2008 and 124,000 in the United States Navy Reserve....
and the United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing Military power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver Marine Air-Ground Task Force....
), as well as the police forces of many South Asian countries and U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
s and counties. It has also spread to civilian

Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agency, which often use rank structures similar to those of military units...
clothing, where "khakis" since the 1950s has meant tan cotton twill pants/trousers

Trousers

Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately . Such items of clothing are often referred to as pants in countries such as Canada, South Africa and The United States....
.

"Khaki" has also become a common slang term in the United States Navy that refers to chief petty officer

Chief Petty Officer

Chief Petty Officer is a Non-commissioned officer or equivalent in many navy....
s and officers (who wear a khaki-colored uniform

Uniform

File:Porfirio Diaz paint.jpgA uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity....
).

Today, civilian "khakis" come in all ranges of colors and the term refers more to the particular design or cut of the pants/trousers

Trousers

Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately . Such items of clothing are often referred to as pants in countries such as Canada, South Africa and The United States....
. In this context, "Khakis" have become popular as business casual

Business casual

Business casual is a popular dress code that emerged in white collar workplaces in Western world in the 1970s in response to the energy crisis of that decade....
pants/trousers

Trousers

Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately . Such items of clothing are often referred to as pants in countries such as Canada, South Africa and The United States....
, and includes other cuts and fabric types (such as chinos

Chino pants

Chino pants/trousers, or simply chinos, refer to a type of lightweight cotton trousers made from Chino cloth. Though they are sometimes confused with khakis, chinos are of dressier style similar to that of dress pants and as such can be considerd a smart casual form of dress....
).

Reference

External links

- The Khaki Cloth - Mangaloreans' Gift to the World
- The story of the catechu
Catechu

Catechu is an extract of any of several species of Acacia—but especially Acacia catechu—produced by boiling the wood in water and evaporating the resulting brew....
's use as a dye for khaki clothing
- A description and rant about US uniforms made in khaki, and the differences among them

Khaki

Reference

See also

External links