Gauze is a thin, translucentfabric with a loose open weave. In technical terms, "gauze" is a weave structure in which the weft yarns are arranged in pairs and are crossed before and after each warp yarn, keeping the weft firmly in place.[1] This weave structure is used to add stability to the fabric, which is important when using fine yarns loosely spaced. However, this weave structure can be used with any weight of yarn, and can be seen in some rustic textiles made from coarse hand-spun plant fiber yarns. Gauze is widely used for medical dressings.
The English word for "gauze" has long been popularly believed to come from the place name, Gaza (Arabic: غزةghazza).[3] It is attributed by most scholars to have come from Gaza and/or qazz (Arabic: قز, "raw silk"), likely by way of the Frenchgaze.[4][5][6] Gaza has a long history of textile production and export, and many fabrics are named for the places from which they were imported.[7][8]
In the Middle Ages, Arab traders imported Asian silkworms (dudat al-qazz) to Palestine with sericulture undertaken domestically in nearby Ascalon, as well as silk weaving both there and in Gaza.[9][10] A particular type of coarse silk fabric mixed with wool and produced in Palestine was called qazz and bi-harir (meaning "in/of silk"), and a thin, almost transparent version of it was used in clothing, drapery and even as medical dressings.[9] Exported from Gaza's port to various destinations in Europe, it also came to be known as gaze there.[8][9][11]
Alternate theories on the origins of the word include one by Ottorino Piangiani, who in 1903 traced the word gauze to a Norman word for a fine-leafed plant,[12] and Demetrios Moutsos, who in 1983, proposed the dialectal Greek word khassa (χάσσα, "skin; thick garment") as a possible source for the Middle French word gaze and its diffusion into other languages, including English.[13]
Uses and types
Gauze was originally made of silk and was used for clothing. It is now used for many different things, including gauze sponges for medical purposes. Modern gauze is also made of synthetic fibers, especially when used in clothing.
Woven versus non-woven
Gauze may be woven or non-woven. Woven gauze is loosely woven, usually from cotton fibers, allowing absorption or wicking of exudate and other fluids. Gauze can be woven with fine or coarse mesh; coarse gauze is useful for medical debridement, while fine gauze is better for packing wounds. Woven gauze is less absorbent than non-woven, and may leave lint in a wound, especially if cut.[14]
Non-woven gauze is made from fibers that are pressed together rather than woven, providing better absorbency and wicking than woven gauze. Non-woven gauze is usually made from synthetic fibers such as rayon or polyester, or a blend which may include cotton. Non-woven gauze is stronger, bulkier and softer than woven gauze, and produces less lint.[14]
Medical use
When used as a medical dressing, woven gauze is usually made of cotton. It is especially useful for dressing wounds where other fabrics might stick to the burn or laceration. Many modern medical gauzes are covered with a perforated plastic film such as Telfa or a polyblend which prevents direct contact and further minimizes wound adhesion. Also, it can be impregnated with a thick, creamy mixture of zinc oxide and calamine to promote healing, as in Unna's boot. Gauze is also used during procedures involving accidental tooth loss; either the gauze is used to provide pressure as the tooth is moved back into its corresponding socket, or the tooth is wrapped in gauze and placed in milk or saline to keep it alive while the tooth is being transported and prepared for re-insertion.[15]
↑Lowdermilk, W.C (1944). Palestine, land of promise. p.61. Silk weaving and dyeing is often recorded. In fact, we read of entire villages in the south which were engaged in the latter industry. It has been suggested that the existence of densely populated cities—Kurnub, Khalassa, Ruheeba, Isbeita—in the deserts along the southern route from Aqaba to Gaza can be explained in part by their industrial activities, especially the unraveling of raw silk imported from India and the weaving of mixed silk and linen fabrics. Our word "gauze" comes from Gaza which manufactured and dyed silks and cotton.
↑"Gause n." Silk Heritage Thesaurus. Retrieved 2025-12-08. From the French "gaze" and the Scottish "gais" "gadza", later in English "gawse" "gause" "gauze". That denomination is derived from the city of Gaza in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. It refers to a thin, transparent fabric of silk, linen or cotton. The areas of corssed warps result in a small and visible openings in the cloth. BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION: Simpson, John; Weiner, Edmund (eds). The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press; Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1989; [www.oed.com]; Tortora, Phyllis, y Ingrid Johnson. The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Textiles, 2015. Phipps, Elena. Looking at Textiles. A guide to technical terms. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2011
12Moutsos, Demetrios (1983). "Latin casula and Balkan κατσούλα"". Zeitschrift für Balkanologie. 19: 48–65. According to N. Andriotis, γάζα was named after the Palestinian city of Gaza,¹²⁶ an idea dwelling on the assumption that French gase (> Spanish gasa, German Gaze, English gaze, gauze, etc.) took the name of the city Gaza in which it, supposedly originated.¹²⁷ This view was contested by Littmann on the ground that there is no evidence for the production of such fabric in the city of Gaza. He therefore sought the origin of this term in Arabic qazz, a loanword from the synonymous Persian käž.¹²⁸ This explanation has been accepted by some scholars,¹²⁹ but W. v. Wartburg made the following remarks in regard to Littmann's etymon: "Doch ist sein argument gegen Diez kaum beweiskräftig, da häufig produkte des binnenlandes nach dem hafen benannt werden, über den sie verfrachtet und verhandelt werden. Daher muß vorläufig die entscheidung zwischen den beiden vorschlägen noch offen gelassen werden."[English translation: "However, his argument against Diez is hardly convincing, since inland products are often named after the port through which they are shipped and traded. Therefore, the decision between the two proposals must remain open for the time being."]¹³⁰
123Nur Masalha (2018). Palestine: A four thousand year history. Palestine produced a variety of silk fabrics - including one coarse type of fabric mixed with various types of wool and woven into coats, which became known as qazz silk, and bi-harir - which were exported to Arabia and various Mediterranean and European countries (Gil, N. 1997, Goitein 1983, Lewandowski 2011, Weir 1994). In early modern England, the raw type of silk made in Palestine and known as qazz, became known as gauze or gaza, the name of the Palestinian city
↑Jacoby, David (2017). Medieval Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond. Taylor & Francis. ISBN9781351583688. "Sericulture, the growing of silk worms, was practiced in northern Syria and in the area of Ascalon. Cotton, flax and silk fibers were used in textile manufacture in Antioch, Aleppo, Damascus, Ascalon, Gaza and some other cities." (in the 11th century)
↑Note that the Arabic word for gauze is shash, which is the origin of the English word sash (see Sash#Word origin for more).
↑Moutsos, Demetrios (1983). "Latin casula and Balkan κατσούλα"". Zeitschrift für Balkanologie. 19: 48–65. The derivation of γάζα 'dirt' from χάσσα 'skin; thick garment' sheds light on the obscure origin of the homophonous γάζα 'a kind of fine and loosely woven diaphanous piece of cloth made of cotton, flax or silk' whose semantic range has been specified as follows: (1) a white or colored rectangular piece of gauze used in many places as a head-covering for women; (2) a loosely woven and sterilized cotton dressing used as haemostatic and as pus-absorbent; (3) any piece of gauze made of cotton and used for straining, cleaning of weapons, etc.¹¹⁷ G. Meyer, being unaware of this form, derived γάζι from French gaze 'gauze,'¹¹⁸ though it is apparent that it is a dim. of γάζα (cf. Lat. braca > βράχχα f. > dim. βρακκί[ον] n.).¹¹⁹[...] The attestation of γαζί as a loanword in the 13th century makes the possibility quite plausible that Greek γάζα is the source of Middle French gaze which subsequently was diffused in Spanish, German, English, Russian, etc.¹³⁴ The fact that χάσσος came to mean 'a woman's underwear' from its original meaning 'thick garment' (cf. also ἀχάσσι) makes the derivation of γάζα from χάσσα, the congener of χάσσος, most likely.
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