Check (fabric)

A check (also checker, Brit: chequer) is a pattern of modified stripes consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical lines forming squares.

The word is derived from the ancient Persian language word shah, meaning "king", from the oriental game of chess, played on a squared board, particularly from the expression shah mat, "the king is dead", in modern chess parlance "check-mate". The word entered the French language as echec in the 11th century, thence into English.

Buffalo check or buffalo plaid has black hashes on a red background. In the United States, it got this name around 1850 when a designer at the Woolrich mill at Chatham's Run in Pennsylvania (who owned a herd of buffalo) copied a pattern known as "Rob Roy" in Scotland. "No. 5310-402 in the Woolrich middleweight fabric collection" became associated with lumberjacks as those nearby in the Pennsylvania woods were the main customers for the woolen shirts that used it. It became popular in mainstream fashion in the United States in the 90s and 2010s.

The check pattern is also used in many areas other than textile styles, for example: on a board used by the mediaeval Exchequer to perform financial computations, and on a board used for playing checkers and chess, and in heraldry.

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