Abadeh — Village rug, central Iran

A weaving tradition from the town of Abadeh in Fars Province, recognizable by a single bold central medallion flanked by stylized florals (often the Heybatlou design) on a deep red field. Tightly woven on a cotton foundation with a wool pile, Abadeh rugs are durable and family-friendly.

See also: Shiraz · Qashqai · Medallion

Abrash — ah-BRAHSH

A natural, often gentle striping or shifting of color across the field of a hand-knotted rug, caused by variations between dye lots or between batches of hand-spun yarn. Once considered a flaw, abrash is now prized: it is a fingerprint of true handwork and impossible to fake convincingly in a machine-made rug.

See also: Natural dyes · Hand-spun · Dye lot

Acrylic

A man-made fiber engineered to mimic the look and softness of wool. It dyes reasonably well but lacks wool's resilience and natural soil resistance; over time it tends to mat and pill. Almost never used in fine hand-knotted work.

See also: Wool · Nylon

Afshar

A Turkic tribal group long settled in the Kerman region of southern Iran. Afshar rugs are typically small to medium, woven on wool or cotton foundations, with bold geometric medallions, scattered botehs, and a saturated palette of indigo, madder, and ivory.

See also: Kerman · Boteh · Tribal rugs

Age

How old a handmade rug is. The trade groups every rug into one of four bands: antique (60+ years), semi-antique (roughly 30–60 years), vintage (roughly 25–50 years, often used interchangeably with semi-antique), and contemporary (less than 25 years).

Agra

From the Mughal-era weaving city of Agra in northern India. Strongly influenced by Persian prototypes — both medallion and all-over patterns appear — Agra rugs often feature highly stylized florals arranged with deliberate asymmetry. Antique Agras are highly collectible.

See also: Indo-Persian · Mahi pattern

All-over (pattern)

A field design that repeats a motif across the entire surface of the rug, with no dominant central medallion. All-over patterns feel calmer in a room, "fill" space more evenly, and tend to hide foot traffic and minor stains better than medallion designs. Common all-over patterns include the herati, boteh, and mina-khani.

See also: Herati · Boteh · Mina-khani · Medallion

Aniline dyes

The first generation of synthetic dyes, derived from coal tar and introduced in the mid-1800s. Early anilines were brilliant when fresh but notoriously fugitive — they faded quickly, ran when wet, and could even rot the wool. Antique rugs woven during the brief aniline era are often identifiable by harsh, blotchy color or visible bleeding.

See also: Chrome dyes · Natural dyes

Antique

A rug at least 60 years old, by the long-standing convention of the U.S. trade. (Some dealers and customs authorities use 80 or 100 years; ask what definition a seller is using.) Genuine antique rugs were almost always woven with natural dyes and hand-spun wool, and they continue to appreciate when in good condition.

See also: Semi-antique · Contemporary

Antique wash

A finishing process — chemical, vegetable, or sunlight-based — applied to a new rug to mute its colors and simulate the soft patina of an aged piece. Sometimes called a "tea wash" when tea or walnut is the agent. A well-done wash is handsome; a heavy-handed one can damage the wool.

See also: Luster wash · Patina

Arabesque

An intricate, interlacing pattern of vines, tendrils, leaves, and stylized blossoms, derived from Islamic decorative arts. Arabesques can be curvilinear or geometric, and they appear in everything from rug fields and borders to architectural tile and manuscript illumination.

See also: Curvilinear · Shah Abbasi palmette

Ardabil

A weaving center in northwestern Iran near the Caspian, in a Turkic-Azeri region. Ardabil rugs typically feature bold geometric designs, often with stepped medallions and lively secondary patterning. The name also refers to the two famous 16th-century Ardabil Carpets — among the most important Safavid carpets ever woven — now housed in the V&A in London and LACMA.

See also: Safavid · Medallion

Area rug

A loose North American term for any portable rug roughly the size of a room or smaller, used to define a seating area or anchor furniture. Distinguished from wall-to-wall carpeting and from runners.

See also: Runner · Palace size

Art Deco rugs

Rugs reflecting the early 20th-century Art Deco movement: bold geometry, stylized florals, sharp contrasts, painterly abstraction. The style was applied to Chinese rugs (especially the famous Nichols workshop), French Aubussons, and Irish Donegals. Original Deco-era pieces are highly collectible today.

See also: Nichols · Donegal · Chinese rugs

Art silk / faux silk

"Artificial silk" — a sales term for any fiber that mimics silk's sheen at a lower price. Usually mercerized cotton, viscose/rayon, or polyester. Beautiful when new, but viscose in particular is fragile when wet, prone to crushing, and never ages with the dignity of real silk.

See also: Silk · Bamboo silk · Viscose

Aubusson

A French flat-woven (tapestry) rug tradition from the town of Aubusson, characterized by soft pastel palettes, central floral medallions, and curvilinear cartouche borders. The Aubusson style has been widely reproduced as a pile rug in India, China, and elsewhere.

See also: Savonnerie · Flatweave

Average (condition)

A trade grade for a rug that has had — or needs — modest repair. May include reweaving in a few areas, repaired fringes, mended selvedges, or minor low pile from wear. Properly restored, an "average" antique can still be a beautiful and sound floor rug.

See also: Fine · Worn

Backing

In a tufted or machine-made rug, the secondary cloth (usually latex-coated canvas) glued to the underside to lock the tufts in place. True hand-knotted rugs do not have a backing — their underside is the natural reverse of the weave itself, which is the easiest way to spot a hand-made rug at a glance.

See also: Hand-tufted · Hand-knotted

Bakhtiari

From the Bakhtiari, a powerful tribal confederation of the Zagros Mountains in west-central Iran. Bakhtiari rugs are famous for the "garden" or panel design — a grid of compartments, each containing a stylized flower, tree, animal, or vase — symbolizing the gardens of paradise. Woven on wool or cotton foundations using the Turkish (symmetric) knot.

See also: Garden design · Compartment · Turkish knot

Bakshaish

From a village near Heriz in northwest Iran. Bakshaish rugs are admired for their bold abstract geometry, large open fields, and unusually modern, almost contemporary feel — they look strikingly current despite often being a century old. Highly collectible.

See also: Heriz · Serapi · Geometric

Balisht — ba-LISHT

A traditional Afghan and Persian cushion or pillow cover, woven with the same techniques as a rug. Usually around 30 by 50 cm. Antique balishts are often turned into decorative throw pillows in Western homes.

Baluch / Balouchi

Rugs woven by the Baluch tribes spread across eastern Iran, western Afghanistan, and southwestern Pakistan. Characteristically dark and brooding — deep blues, aubergines, and madder reds, often with stark ivory accents. Designs include tree-of-life prayer rugs, stepped diamond medallions, and repeating geometric guls. Wool foundations and a fine, low pile are typical.

See also: Prayer rug · Tree of Life

Bamboo silk

A regenerated cellulose fiber made from bamboo pulp, marketed as a vegan, more sustainable silk substitute. Soft, lustrous, and beautifully dyeable, but — like viscose — it is more fragile than true silk and is best in low-traffic rooms.

See also: Viscose · Silk · Art silk

Beni Ourain

The shaggy, ivory-cream rugs woven by the Beni Ourain confederation in Morocco's Middle Atlas Mountains, with sparse charcoal or black diamond lattices. Plush, undyed natural wool with a deep pile. Massively popular in modern interiors since their rediscovery by mid-century designers.

See also: Moroccan rugs

Bidjar — also Bijar

From the Kurdish town of Bidjar in western Iran, woven so tightly and beaten so heavily during weaving that they earned the nickname "the Iron Rugs of Iran." Bidjars are extraordinarily heavy and durable; folding can crack their dense foundation, so they should always be rolled. Herati and medallion designs are common.

See also: Herati pattern · Kurdish rugs

Bid Majnun — Weeping Willow

A field design combining weeping willows, cypresses, poplars, and small fruit trees arranged in rectilinear rows. Originated among Kurdish weavers, with the earliest known examples from the Bidjar district. A poetic, garden-like design that reads almost like a stylized orchard.

See also: Cypress tree · Bidjar · Garden design

Border

The patterned bands that frame the field of a rug. A rug typically has one wide main border flanked by narrower guard stripes. The border carries some of the most disciplined drawing in a rug and is often where a weaver's skill is most visible.

Boteh — BOH-teh; also called paisley

The teardrop, pinecone, or curled-leaf shape known in the West as paisley. The Farsi word means "immature flower" or "palm leaf," and the form has been read as a cypress bent in the wind, an eternal flame, a sprout, or the union of mother and child. Boteh patterns spread to 19th-century Scotland on Kashmiri shawls and gave the town of Paisley its rug-trade fame.

See also: Cypress tree · All-over · Serapi

Braided rug

A rug made by braiding three or more strands of fabric or yarn into a long rope, then coiling and stitching the rope into a flat oval or round. Strong American folk tradition, particularly in New England.

Brocading

A type of flatweave in which additional, decorative weft strands are inserted over a plain woven ground to create a raised pattern. Common in kilims and soumaks where extra texture or color is wanted.

See also: Flatweave · Soumak

Camel hair

Wool from the undercoat of the Bactrian camel — soft, lightweight, and warm. Used historically in some Persian village rugs (notably Sarab and Hamadan) to produce the distinctive natural tan and biscuit fields. Most "camel hair" rugs today actually use camel-colored sheep's wool.

See also: Sarab · Hamadan

Carding

The combing of raw wool fibers with wire brushes to align them and remove debris, before spinning into yarn. A foundational step that affects how cleanly the yarn dyes and how durably it knots.

See also: Hand-spun · Wool

Cartoon

A full-scale grid-paper drawing of the rug's pattern, with each colored square representing one knot. The weaver reads the cartoon row by row. City and workshop rugs almost always work from cartoons; tribal and nomadic weavers work from memory.

See also: Workshop rug · Tribal rug

Cartouche

An ornamental framed panel, usually oval or rectangular with scalloped or scrolled edges, often containing an inscription, a date, or the weaver's signature. Cartouches are most common in the borders of fine city rugs.

See also: Main border

Caucasian rugs

Rugs from the Caucasus mountain region between the Black and Caspian Seas — what is now Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and southern Russia. Caucasian rugs are bold, brightly colored, and emphatically geometric, with stylized dragons, eagles, and crosses appearing frequently. Major types include Kazak, Shirvan, Karabagh, Kuba, and Gendje.

See also: Kazak · Geometric

Chinese rugs

A distinct weaving tradition with its own design vocabulary — dragons, phoenixes, cloudbands, peonies — and a softer, often pastel palette of yellows, blues, and apricots. Antique Chinese rugs from Ningxia and Peking are highly collectible. The Art Deco era produced the famous Nichols rugs.

See also: Nichols · Cloudband · Art Deco

Chokla wool

A dense, heavy wool from the Chokla sheep of Bikaner in Rajasthan, India — often called Rajasthan Merino. Considered among the finest wools for rug-making, with excellent loft, springiness, and dye uptake.

See also: Wool · Kork wool

Chrome dyes

Synthetic dyes developed between the World Wars, in which a chromium salt acts as a mordant to bond the dye permanently to the wool fiber. Chrome dyes solved the fading and bleeding problems of early anilines and remain the most colorfast synthetic dyes used in rugs today.

Cloudband

A long, ribbon-like swirling form derived from Chinese stylized cloud imagery, adopted into Persian and Caucasian rug design centuries ago. Read as a symbol of heavenly favor and tranquility.

See also: Chinese rugs

Cochineal — KOH-chih-neel

A brilliant crimson natural dye extracted from the dried bodies of the cochineal insect, native to Mexico and Peru. Imported into the Old World in the 16th century, it produced some of the most prized reds in Safavid-era Persian rugs and remains highly valued by traditional dyers.

See also: Madder · Lac · Natural dyes

Compartment design

A field divided into a grid of enclosed sections — squares, diamonds, hexagons, or scalloped panels — each holding its own small motif. The Bakhtiari garden design is the classic example; the design echoes the walled paradise gardens of Persian poetry.

See also: Bakhtiari · Garden design

Condition

The state of a rug, judged across pile depth, evenness of wear, structural integrity of foundation and selvedges, fringes, color stability, and any prior repairs. The conventional grades are worn, average, fine, and mint. Condition affects price more than almost any other variable except size and rarity.

See also: Worn · Average · Fine

Contemporary

By trade convention, a rug less than 25 years old. The term doesn't say anything about quality — a contemporary rug can be a museum-grade Tabriz or a power-loomed import. It's purely an age category.

See also: Antique · Transitional

Cotton

The natural fiber from the cotton plant. In hand-knotted rugs, cotton is used overwhelmingly for the foundation — the warps and (often) the wefts — because it is strong, dimensionally stable, holds its tension under tight knotting, and is much cheaper than silk. Wool foundations are common in tribal and nomadic rugs.

See also: Foundation · Warp · Weft

Curvilinear

A design built from curves, arcs, and flowing botanical lines, in contrast to the angular straight lines of geometric weaving. Curvilinear designs require a finer knot count and are the hallmark of city workshop rugs such as Tabriz, Isfahan, Kashan, and Qum.

See also: Geometric · Persian knot

Cut pile

A pile in which the loops of yarn are sheared at the top after weaving, exposing the cut ends and giving the rug its typical plush surface. All knotted-pile rugs are cut-pile by definition; some machine-made rugs use loop pile instead.

See also: Shearing · Pile

Cypress tree

One of the oldest sacred symbols in Persian art. Because the cypress is evergreen, it represents life, eternity, and resilience; in Zoroastrian tradition, the gentle bending of the cypress signifies humility before the divine. Many scholars believe the boteh motif derives from a stylized cypress.

Dhurrie — also durrie, dari

A flat-woven Indian rug, traditionally of cotton, with no pile and a reversible surface. Dhurries are lightweight, washable, and inexpensive — historically used as utility floor coverings, summer rugs, and bed-coverings. Modern dhurries are often woven in wool or wool-cotton blends.

See also: Flatweave · Kilim

Donegal

Hand-knotted rugs woven in County Donegal, Ireland, beginning in 1898 to provide local employment. Designed by leading Arts & Crafts and early modern designers (including Voysey and Liberty), Donegal rugs combined Persian construction with a distinctly Celtic, geometric, and floral British design vocabulary. Highly collectible today.

See also: Art Deco

Double weft

A weaving method in which two weft strands are passed between each row of knots instead of one. The result is a heavier, denser, more durable rug, sometimes with raised "ribs" on the back. Bidjar is the textbook example; Heriz is another.

See also: Bidjar · Weft

Dye

Any agent used to color the fibers of a rug. Two broad families: natural dyes from plants, animals, and minerals, and synthetic dyes manufactured from coal-tar or petroleum chemistry. Natural-dyed wool tends to age into a softer palette; well-made synthetic dyes are more uniform but rarely develop the same patina.

Dye lot

A single batch of dyed yarn. Because every dye lot varies slightly — especially with hand-mixed natural dyes — a single rug woven over many months may use yarn from several lots, producing the gentle banding known as abrash.

End finish

The treatment of the top and bottom edges of a rug, where the warps emerge. Common finishes include knotted or braided fringes, plain selvedge bands, woven kilim ends (especially on tribal rugs), and folded-and-sewn hems. The end finish is one of the most damage-prone areas of a rug and a common candidate for restoration.

See also: Fringe · Selvedge

Faux silk

See Art silk.

Field

The central area of a rug, enclosed by the border. The field may be open (a solid background color), filled with an all-over pattern, dominated by a medallion, or divided into compartments. When dealers describe a rug, they almost always describe the field first.

See also: Border · Open field · Medallion

Fine (condition)

A trade grade for a rug in excellent shape — full pile, sound foundation, intact fringes and selvedges, no holes or stains, no prior repair. A "fine" antique rug is rare and commands a premium.

See also: Worn · Average

Flatweave

A rug woven without knotted pile. The pattern is formed by the weft yarns themselves as they pass over and under the warps. Flatweaves are reversible, lighter, and generally less expensive than pile rugs. The major flatweave families are kilim, soumak, and dhurrie.

See also: Kilim · Soumak · Dhurrie

Foundation

The structural skeleton of a rug — the combined warps and wefts that hold the knots in place. Cotton is the dominant foundation material in city and village rugs; wool is common in tribal rugs; silk foundations appear in the very finest pieces (Hereke, Qum, Nain) where the warp itself may show through as the fringe.

See also: Warp · Weft · Cotton

Fringe

The exposed ends of the warp strands extending from the top and bottom of a rug, usually knotted, braided, or whip-stitched to prevent unraveling. The fringe is structural — it is the rug's foundation, not a decoration — and a damaged fringe should be repaired promptly to keep the weave from coming apart.

See also: Warp · End finish

Gabbeh — GAH-beh

A coarse, thick-pile tribal rug from the Qashqai and Luri peoples of southwestern Iran. Gabbehs traditionally have simple, almost childlike compositions — a solid field with a few scattered animals, people, or geometric forms — and a saturated palette of madder, indigo, and natural ivory. Once everyday utility rugs, they have become beloved for their primitive modern look.

See also: Qashqai · Lori

Gallery rug

An unusually long, wide runner — typically 6 to 8 feet wide and 14 to 20 feet long. Originally woven to fit the long corridors of Persian palaces and grand houses.

See also: Kelleh · Runner

Garden design

A composition representing the four-quartered Persian paradise garden, often built as a grid of compartments each holding a tree, flower, or pond. The Bakhtiari rug is the iconic example, but garden designs also appear in Qum, Tabriz, and Kerman.

See also: Bakhtiari · Compartment

Geometric

A design built from straight lines and angular forms — diamonds, hooks, stars, stepped polygons — rather than from curves. Geometric design is characteristic of tribal rugs, Caucasian rugs, Turkish rugs, and village rugs like Heriz; it suits the symmetric Turkish knot, which works best with rectilinear shapes.

See also: Curvilinear · Turkish knot

Ghazni wool

Wool from the high mountain region of Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan. Considered among the finest Afghan wools — long-staple, lustrous, naturally rich in lanolin, and exceptionally hardwearing. Used in many of the best Afghan and Pakistani Bokhara rugs.

See also: Khal Mohammadi · Pakistani Bokhara

Gol Henai

A small, delicate repeating pattern named after the henna plant, though it does not closely resemble it. Often used as an all-over field design, particularly in rugs from Hamadan and central Iran.

See also: All-over · Hamadan

Ground

The base structure of woven fabric — the interlaced warps and wefts considered together, before any pile is added. In a knotted-pile rug, the ground is the same as the foundation.

Guard stripe

The narrower secondary bands that flank the wide main border on either side. A typical rug border has the main border at center and one or two guard stripes inside and outside — a triple framing that focuses the eye on the field.

See also: Border · Main border

Gul — Persian for "flower"

An octagonal, angular medallion-like figure, repeated across the field in Turkmen and Bokhara rugs as the tribe's heraldic emblem. Different Turkmen tribes — Tekke, Yomud, Salor, Ersari — each have a distinctive gul, making it possible to identify a rug's origin by its gul alone.

See also: Turkoman · Yomud · Tekke · Pakistani Bokhara

Hamadan

Not a single weaving center but a vast district in western Iran encompassing hundreds of weaving villages around the city of Hamadan. Hamadan rugs are typically single-wefted (lighter and less dense than double-wefted Heriz), in a wide range of designs — geometric, floral, herati, camel-ground — and a wide range of qualities. Excellent value at every price point.

See also: Herati · Camel hair

Hand-knotted

The defining technique of fine Oriental rugs: short lengths of yarn are individually tied around pairs of warp strands, knot by knot, by a weaver working on a loom. A 9×12 rug may contain millions of knots and represent many months of work. Hand-knotted rugs are reversible (the pattern shows on the back) and have no glued backing.

See also: Hand-tufted · KPSI · Persian knot · Turkish knot

Hand-spun

Yarn spun by hand, usually on a drop spindle or a treadle wheel. Hand-spun yarn is naturally uneven in diameter, which catches dye unevenly — producing the subtle color variations that give old rugs their depth and the characteristic abrash across the field.

See also: Wool · Abrash

Hand-tufted

A faster, cheaper technique in which loops of yarn are pushed through a stretched cotton canvas using a hand-held tufting gun, then locked in place from below with latex glue and a second canvas backing. Tufted rugs have a stiff, glued back; they are not reversible; they cannot be repaired the way a knotted rug can; and their lifespan is a fraction of a hand-knotted rug's. Often misrepresented at retail.

See also: Hand-knotted · Backing

Harshang — "Crab" pattern

An all-over pattern dominated by large, oval motifs that suggest a crab's body with stylized arabesque "claws" curling outward. Originated in the Khorasan district; the design traces its lineage back to Safavid-period Isfahan palmette compositions.

See also: All-over · Safavid

Henna

A natural dye made from the leaves of the henna plant, producing orange and rust tones. Less common than madder or cochineal in rug-making but used historically in some tribal and village pieces.

See also: Natural dyes

Herati pattern — also called Mahi or Fish

One of the most widespread Persian patterns. A single floral rosette sits inside a diamond, flanked by four curving acanthus leaves often read as fish — hence the alternative name mahi (Persian for fish). The pattern came out of the city of Herat and is used as an all-over field design across many weaving regions, most famously Bidjar, Tabriz, and Moud. Believed to symbolize auspiciousness, prosperity, and the cosmic waters of life.

See also: Mahi · All-over · Bidjar · Moud

Heriz

From the village of Heriz and its surrounding district northeast of Tabriz in northwestern Iran. Heriz rugs are immediately recognizable: a large, stepped, geometric medallion on a brick-red field, with bold corner pieces and rectilinear floral borders. Heavy cotton foundations, durable double-wefted construction, and excellent local wool make them famously hardwearing — perfect for high-traffic living and dining rooms.

See also: Serapi · Bakshaish · Medallion

Indigo

The deep blue natural dye extracted from leaves of the Indigofera plant. Indigo is the single most important blue dye in rug history — every indigo blue, from pale sky to inky navy, comes from the same plant, controlled by the dyer's repeated dipping and oxidation. Naturally light-stable and color-fast.

See also: Natural dyes · Madder

Indo-Persian

A trade term for hand-knotted rugs woven in India to Persian designs — typically Mahal, Tabriz, or Heriz patterns. Indo-Persian rugs offer Persian design vocabulary at a lower price than Iranian-woven equivalents and are widely produced today in Bhadohi, Mirzapur, and Jaipur.

See also: Mahal · Agra

Isfahan — Esfahan

From the historic Safavid capital in central Iran. Isfahans are among the finest curvilinear rugs ever woven — knot counts of 500 to 1,000 KPSI, soft kork wool or silk pile, intricate floral medallion designs on ivory or indigo grounds, and the famous Shah Abbasi palmette borders. Often woven on silk foundations. Many bear the weaver's signature.

See also: Kork wool · Shah Abbasi · Safavid

Joshegan — also Joshaqan

From a village northeast of Isfahan, famous for a single distinctive design: an all-over diamond lattice of stylized flowers, often with a small central medallion echoing the same form. The Joshegan pattern is one of the oldest continuously woven designs in Persia.

See also: All-over

Jufti knot

A knot tied around four warps instead of the usual two — sometimes called a "false knot." Jufti weaving cuts the knot count in half and dramatically speeds production, but the resulting rug is significantly less dense, less detailed, and less durable. Common in some lower-end Khorasan and Mashhad rugs; a rug woven entirely in jufti weighs roughly half what a comparably sized symmetric or asymmetric piece would.

See also: Persian knot · Turkish knot · KPSI

Jute

A long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber from the jute plant (cultivated mostly in Bangladesh and India). In rugs, jute is used for inexpensive flat-woven naturals — alone or blended with wool, sisal, or seagrass — and as a backing material.

See also: Sisal

Karaja — Karadja, Karadagh

From the village of Karaja in the Karadagh district of northwest Iran, near Heriz. Karaja rugs are typically runners with a distinctive sequence of three medallions — a hexagonal one between two octagonal ones — set on a deep red ground. Robust, geometric, and very long-lived.

See also: Heriz · Runner

Kashan

From the central Iranian oasis city of Kashan, weaving fine rugs since the 17th century. Kashans are known for their lush, drawn-out floral medallions, deep madder and indigo grounds, and very soft Kashan wool — often considered the finest wool in Iran. The legendary 19th-century master Mohtasham produced his renowned rugs in Kashan, and "Mohtasham Kashans" remain among the most coveted Persian rugs ever woven.

See also: Mohtasham · Medallion

Kazak

The most famous family of Caucasian rugs, woven in the southwestern Caucasus by Armenian and Azeri weavers. Kazaks are bold and tribal — large geometric medallions, dragons, eagles, crosses, and stars in saturated madder reds, indigo blues, and ivory, on a long-pile wool foundation. Antique Kazaks command serious prices; Pakistani "Kazak" rugs reproduce the style at a fraction of the cost.

See also: Caucasian rugs

Kelleh — kel-LEH; also kelley, kalleh

A Persian term for a long, narrow rug — roughly 5 to 7 feet wide and 10 to 18 feet long. Historically the kelleh was placed at the head of a traditional Persian room, with shorter "kenareh" runners along the long sides and a square "miyaneh" in the middle.

See also: Gallery · Runner

Kerman — also Kirman

From the southern Iranian city of Kerman, a major weaving center for over four centuries. Classic Kerman rugs are floral and curvilinear, with a softer pastel palette than Tabriz or Kashan — ivory, rose, celadon, soft blue — often built around a central medallion or a vase or pictorial composition. The fine wool was historically dyed with cochineal to produce Kerman's distinctive terracotta red.

See also: Cochineal · Vase pattern

Khal Mohammadi

Hand-knotted rugs woven by Turkmen weavers in northern Afghanistan, named for the master weaver Khal Mohammed who popularized the style. Khal Mohammadis use repeating elephant-foot guls on a deep claret-red ground, woven from rich Ghazni wool with dense Persian knotting. The deep, almost luminous red is the signature of the type.

See also: Gul · Ghazni wool · Turkoman

Khorjin — khor-JEEN

A traditional tribal saddlebag — two woven pouches joined by a flat-woven center panel, slung over a horse, donkey, or camel. Khorjins are richly decorated with the same designs and dyes as their makers' rugs, and antique examples are widely collected as wall hangings.

Kilim — also kelim, gelim

The major Middle Eastern flatweave family. A kilim has no pile — the wefts themselves form the pattern as they pass over and under the warps, with each block of color woven discontinuously, leaving small slits where colors meet. Kilims are reversible, light, and inexpensive to produce, and they appear in almost every weaving tradition from Anatolia to Afghanistan.

See also: Flatweave · Soumak

KPSI — Knots per square inch

The standard measure of a hand-knotted rug's fineness: count the knots along one inch horizontally and one inch vertically, multiply. A coarse tribal rug may have 25–80 KPSI; a good village or Heriz, 100–200; a fine city rug from Tabriz or Kashan, 300–500; a museum-grade Isfahan or Qum silk, 600–1,000+. Higher KPSI permits finer drawing but is not the only measure of quality — wool, dye, design, and weaver's skill all matter as much.

See also: Quality grades · Hand-knotted

Kork wool

The softest, finest wool taken from the underbelly, neck, and shoulders of young lambs. Kork wool is silky, lustrous, and prized for the finest Persian rugs — particularly Isfahan, Nain, and Qum. It dyes brilliantly and ages with a beautiful sheen.

See also: Isfahan · Nain · Wool

Kurdish rugs

Rugs woven by Kurdish peoples across western Iran, eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq. The category is enormous and includes the famous Bidjar and Senneh weavings as well as the bold, large-scale tribal rugs of Mukri, Koliai, and Sanjabi Kurds. Wool is typically lustrous and oily; designs tend toward geometric medallions and herati.

See also: Bidjar · Senneh

Lac

A red dye extracted from the resinous secretion of the lac insect, native to South and Southeast Asia. Produces a deeper, more purplish red than madder or cochineal and was used in some Indian and Mughal-era Persian rugs.

See also: Madder · Cochineal

Loom

The frame that holds the warp threads under tension so the weaver can interlace wefts and tie knots. Looms come in three traditional forms: vertical (the standard upright fixed loom of city workshops), horizontal (a ground loom used by nomadic weavers, easy to disassemble for travel), and the pit loom (used in parts of India, with the weaver seated in a pit below the loom).

See also: Warp · Cartoon

Lori — Luri

From the Lori (Luri) people of western and southwestern Iran, in the Zagros mountains. Lori rugs share much with their Qashqai and Bakhtiari neighbors — geometric medallions, deep red and indigo palettes, and many gabbeh-like simple compositions.

See also: Qashqai · Gabbeh

Luster wash

A finishing process that softens a new rug's colors and increases the wool's natural sheen by gentle chemical or vegetable treatment. Distinct from the more aggressive antique wash, which goes further toward a faded patina.

Madder — Rubia tinctorum

The most important natural red dye in rug history. Extracted from the dried, ground roots of the madder plant, madder yields the warm, slightly orange reds that dominate Persian, Caucasian, and Turkish weaving. The shade varies with the mordant and the wool's natural oils — every weaving village produces its own characteristic madder red.

See also: Natural dyes · Cochineal · Mordant

Mahal

From the Mahal district of central Iran (now part of Markazi province), in the same broad region as Sultanabad. Mahal rugs are typically room-size, in a relaxed, casual style — scrolling vines, palmettes, and floral all-over patterns in soft terracotta, gold, and ivory. Highly sought after for their wearable, decorator-friendly look.

See also: Sultanabad · All-over

Mahi — Persian for "fish"

Another name for the Herati pattern, in reference to the four curved leaves around its central diamond being read as fish circling a pond. The most formal Mahi compositions feature a central oval medallion surrounded by concentric ornamental fields.

Main border

The wide, primary band of ornament that frames the rug's field, almost always carrying the most elaborate drawing of the border system. Common main-border designs include the Herati border, the boteh-vine border, the cloud-band border, and the Shah Abbasi palmette border.

See also: Border · Guard stripe

Malayer

From the town of Malayer in western Iran, between Hamadan and Arak. Malayer rugs share design DNA with both regions — herati and boteh all-over patterns, occasional medallions, and a quietly elegant palette. Antique Malayers are highly valued for their fine wool and balanced compositions.

See also: Hamadan · Sultanabad

Mashhad — Meshed

From the holy city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Mashhad rugs are typically room-size, with central medallions and dense floral fields in rich madder reds and deep blues. The region's wool is excellent, but Mashhads are also infamous for the jufti knot, which appears more here than anywhere else — buyers should examine knotting carefully.

See also: Jufti knot

Medallion

A large, often elaborate central design figure — typically circular, oval, diamond, or stepped — that anchors the rug's field. Medallions can be paired with full corner spandrels (the "medallion-and-corner" composition) or stand alone on an open field. The medallion is one of the two great Persian field organizations, the other being all-over.

See also: All-over · Spandrel

Mercerized cotton

Cotton yarn treated under tension with a caustic soda solution, which gives the fiber a permanent silky luster, stronger dye uptake, and greater tensile strength. Often used in art silk rugs to mimic the appearance of real silk at a fraction of the price.

Mihrab — meeh-RAHB

The arched niche found in every mosque, marking the direction of prayer toward Mecca. In rugs, the mihrab is the defining feature of a prayer rug — the pointed arch is woven into the field so the worshipper can place it facing forward when praying.

Mina-khani

A repeating all-over pattern of small daisies — typically one central blossom surrounded by four others — joined by diamond or curved lattice lines. Used across many weaving regions but particularly characteristic of Veramin, Moud, and Bidjar. A calm, garden-like field design.

See also: All-over · Veramin

Mohair / Angora

The soft, lustrous hair of the Angora goat. Strong, springy, and excellent at taking dye, mohair is used in some Anatolian and Persian rugs to introduce a high-luster accent. Not to be confused with Angora rabbit hair.

Mohtasham

A celebrated late-19th-century master weaver of Kashan, whose workshop produced some of the finest Persian rugs ever made. Authentic Mohtasham Kashans are identifiable by their elegant medallions, exceptionally soft kork wool, and a characteristic purple-silk selvedge wrap. The name has been widely imitated, so attribution requires expert authentication.

See also: Kashan · Kork wool

Mordant

A metal-salt compound — alum, iron, copper, chrome — used to fix a dye permanently onto a fiber, and to modify its color. The same madder root yields a different red depending on whether it is mordanted with alum, iron, or chrome. The dyer's command of mordants is what makes one workshop's reds different from another's.

See also: Natural dyes · Chrome dyes

Moroccan rugs

The major North African weaving tradition, made by Berber tribes across the Atlas mountains and the surrounding plains. Moroccan rugs feature a looser knot, a deep shaggy pile, and a vocabulary of bold abstract symbols passed down through female weavers. Major styles include the cream-and-charcoal Beni Ourain, the vivid Boucherouite rag rugs, and the colorful Azilal.

Moud — Mood

From the village of Moud in eastern Iran's Khorasan province. Moud rugs are densely woven with the herati or mina-khani pattern in a fine, controlled drawing, on a cotton foundation with kork wool pile. Considered one of the most refined village weavings in Iran.

See also: Herati · Mina-khani

Nain — pronounced nah-EEN

From the town of Nain in central Iran. Nain rugs are among the finest Persian rugs woven today — typically a delicate central medallion of branching vines and small blossoms in indigo or rose on an ivory ground, with silk highlights woven through the wool pile. Knot counts of 300–700 KPSI are normal; the finest "Nain-9-La" pieces use very fine silk warp and reach 1,000+ KPSI.

See also: Isfahan · Kork wool

Nap

The direction in which the cut ends of the pile lean. Run your hand across a rug one way and the pile lays flat; run it the other and it stands up. The direction the nap leans corresponds to the direction the rug was woven, and it affects how light reads off the wool — the same rug looks darker in one direction and brighter in the other.

See also: Pile

Natural dyes — also vegetable dyes

Dyes derived from plants (madder, indigo, weld, walnut, pomegranate), insects (cochineal, lac), and minerals (iron, copper). Natural dyes are slightly variable between batches, soften and harmonize beautifully with age, and were the only dyes used in rug-making until the mid-19th century. A return to natural dyes — driven by the DOBAG project in Turkey and similar revivals in Iran and Afghanistan — has produced some of the finest contemporary rugs.

See also: Madder · Indigo · Cochineal · Mordant

Nichols rugs

Hand-knotted rugs produced in the early 20th century by the American Walter Nichols's workshops in Tientsin (Tianjin), China. Famous for their elegant Art Deco patterns — geometric florals, asymmetric layouts, dramatic palettes — Nichols rugs combined Persian construction with modern Western design and remain highly collectible.

See also: Art Deco · Chinese rugs

Nylon

A petroleum-derived synthetic fiber. The most durable and stain-resistant of the common synthetic carpet yarns, but lacks wool's resilience, warmth, and ability to soften with age. Used in machine-made and broadloom carpeting, not in fine hand-knotted rugs.

See also: Olefin · Wool

Olefin — polypropylene

A petroleum-derived synthetic fiber, virtually stain-proof and UV-stable, widely used in machine-made indoor-outdoor rugs. Cheap and practical but lacks the resilience of wool and tends to flatten with use.

One-sided / directional

A composition designed to be viewed from one end, so the pattern reads "right-side-up" from a single direction. Prayer rugs are always one-sided (the mihrab points the way to Mecca); pictorial and tree-of-life rugs usually are. All-over and medallion compositions are typically symmetrical and read the same from any side.

See also: Prayer rug · Pictorial

Open field

A field design in which a large area of the rug is left as a solid or near-solid color, often surrounding a single medallion. Open fields require very even dyeing and weaving — any inconsistency shows immediately — and tend to flatter the medallion and the borders.

See also: Medallion · Field

Pakistani Bokhara — also Bukhara

Hand-knotted rugs woven in Pakistan (notably Lahore) using the traditional Turkmen elephant-foot gul design — repeating octagonal medallions in deep reds and burgundies. Originally named after the Central Asian city of Bokhara, where many Turkmen rugs were traded. Pakistani Bokharas combine fine knotting with rich Ghazni wool and remain among the most popular hand-knotted rugs in the U.S. market.

See also: Turkoman · Gul · Ghazni wool

Palace size

Trade slang for an unusually large rug — typically 12×18 feet or larger. The size of grand entries, hotel ballrooms, and oversized living rooms; weaving one requires a very large loom and many months of coordinated work.

See also: Area rug

Palmette

A stylized fan- or lotus-shaped floral, viewed from the side, with overlapping petals radiating outward. One of the oldest and most universal Persian motifs — appearing in tile, manuscript, and rug design — and the foundation of the famous Shah Abbasi pattern.

See also: Shah Abbasi · Rosette

Pattern

The overall arrangement of motifs in a rug. The trade recognizes three broad classes: pictorial (depicting people, animals, scenes), geometric (angular and rectilinear), and curvilinear (flowing botanical lines). A rug may combine all three.

Persian knot — Senneh knot, asymmetric knot, Farsibaff

An asymmetric knot in which the yarn wraps fully around one warp and passes behind the adjacent warp, with one end emerging on each side of the pair. Because the knot is small and only half-collared, weavers can pack Persian knots more tightly than Turkish knots — which is why the highest knot counts and the most curvilinear designs come from rugs using the Persian knot. Common in Iran east of Tabriz, in India, Pakistan, China, and Egypt.

See also: Turkish knot · Jufti knot · Curvilinear

Persian rug

By strict definition, a rug woven in Iran (called Persia until 1935). Persia's weaving tradition is the deepest in the world — 2,500 years of documented history — and "Persian rug" carries an implicit guarantee of quality the broader term "Oriental rug" does not. A rug woven to Persian designs but outside Iran is more accurately called Indo-Persian, Pakistani-Persian, etc.

Peshawar — Ziegler-style

Hand-knotted rugs woven in and around Peshawar, Pakistan, often in the antique-look "Ziegler" style — a softly faded Sultanabad-derived palette of biscuit, gold, soft terracotta, sage, and ivory. Heavily washed for an instant patina; the muted colors blend with almost any palette, which has made Peshawars one of the most popular modern hand-knotted rugs.

See also: Sultanabad · Antique wash

Pictorial

A composition that depicts a recognizable scene — a hunt, a garden, a historic figure, a religious or literary subject. Pictorial rugs are usually one-sided (read from a single direction) and require a very fine knot count to handle the figurative drawing. Particularly associated with Tabriz, Kashan, Kerman, and Qum.

See also: One-sided

Pile

The cut ends of the knots that form the rug's visible surface — what your hand feels when you touch the rug. Pile is described by its height (low, medium, high), its material (wool, silk, kork), and its quality. The pile is what wears over time; the foundation is what holds the rug together.

See also: Nap · Wool · Foundation

Power-loomed

A rug woven on a mechanized loom controlled by a computer rather than knotted by hand. Power-loomed rugs can be produced in hours rather than months, in nearly any pattern, but they lack the artisanal character, the reversible structure, and the multi-generational lifespan of a hand-knotted rug.

See also: Hand-knotted

Prayer rug — sajjadeh

A small one-sided rug featuring a pointed arch — the mihrab — woven into the field. The worshipper kneels with the rug placed so the arch points toward Mecca. Prayer rugs were woven in nearly every Islamic weaving region and are among the most varied and personal of all rug formats; antique examples are widely collected.

See also: Mihrab · One-sided

Qashqai — Kashkai, Ghashghai

The great nomadic confederation of southwestern Iran's Fars province. Qashqai rugs are tribal and exuberant — diamond medallions, hooked motifs, scattered animals and birds, lively secondary patterns — in saturated madder, indigo, and ivory, woven on wool foundations. The Qashqai are still actively weaving today; antique Qashqais are highly collectible.

See also: Shiraz · Gabbeh · Tribal rugs

Quality grades — 3/20, 6/6, 8/8, 11/11, 14/14, 16/18

A grading system used in the Pakistani and Indian hand-knotted trade to indicate knot density. The two numbers represent horizontal and vertical knots per square half-inch; squaring and multiplying gives KPSI. A 6/6 has 144 KPSI; 8/8 has 256; 11/11 has 484; 14/14 has 784; 16/18 has roughly 1,150. Higher grades take longer to weave and permit finer drawing, but quality also depends on wool and weaver skill.

See also: KPSI · Pakistani Bokhara

Qum — Qom, Ghom

From the holy city of Qum in central Iran. A relatively young weaving center — only since the 1930s — but already producing some of the finest rugs in the world. Qum rugs are most famous for their all-silk pile and silk-on-silk construction, with knot counts that can exceed 1,000 KPSI. Patterns range from formal medallions and gardens to pictorial and tree-of-life designs in jewel tones.

See also: Silk · Tree of Life

Rectilinear

A design built from straight lines and right angles — a stricter cousin of "geometric." Rectilinear drawing is characteristic of village and tribal rugs (Heriz, Caucasian, Turkmen) and is technically suited to the symmetric Turkish knot.

See also: Geometric · Turkish knot

Rosette

A circular floral motif with petals radiating outward from a central point, like a rose seen from above. Rosettes appear at every scale — as the central element in a medallion, scattered through a field, or repeated in a border — and are particularly characteristic of Nain and Kashan.

See also: Palmette · Nain

Rug pad

A non-slip, cushioning underlay placed between a rug and the floor. A good rug pad prevents slippage, absorbs foot impact (extending the rug's life by years), buffers from a hard floor, and prevents abrasion or staining of the floor below. Felt-and-rubber pads are best for hard floors; thin grippers work for rugs over carpet.

Runner

A long, narrow rug — typically 2 to 3 feet wide and 6 to 16 feet long — used in hallways, on staircases, beside beds, and in galleries. The Persian term for an extra-wide runner (around 6 feet wide and 12+ feet long) is kelleh.

Safavid — SAH-fah-vid

The Persian dynasty whose patronage produced the golden age of carpet weaving — the era of the great Ardabil Carpets, the imperial workshops of Tabriz and Isfahan, the silk-and-gold court rugs, and the codification of designs (Shah Abbasi palmettes, mahi, garden) that still organize Persian weaving today.

See also: Ardabil · Shah Abbasi · Isfahan

Saffron

A precious natural yellow dye from the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus. Saffron yellows are bright and slightly orange; the dye is expensive and rarely used for large fields, but it appears in fine accents and antique pieces. More common yellow dyes include weld, pomegranate rind, and onion skin.

See also: Weld · Natural dyes

Sarab

From the village of Sarab in northwestern Iran. Famous for long, narrow runners and galleries woven with a camel-color ground (using either camel hair or camel-colored sheep's wool) and rows of interconnected medallions in pink-red and indigo blue. A classic, quietly distinguished village type.

See also: Camel hair · Gallery

Sarouk

From the village of Sarouk near Arak in west-central Iran. Sarouks are heavy, finely knotted, and lush, traditionally in deep madder reds and indigo blues. "American Sarouks" of the 1920s and 30s — woven for export — are particularly famous: dense floral sprays on a deep red ground, often heavily over-dyed on arrival in the U.S. to satisfy American taste.

See also: Sultanabad

Savonnerie

The royal French hand-knotted carpet tradition, founded in 1627 in a converted soap factory (savonnerie) in Paris. Savonneries are deep-pile, often pictorial and grandly architectural, woven for Versailles and other royal palaces. The style has been widely reproduced as a hand-knotted rug in India and China.

See also: Aubusson

Scatter rug — mat

A small rug, typically 2×3 to 3×5 feet — the size of a doormat, an entry rug, or a bedside mat. The smallest standard rug size in the trade.

Selvedge — also selvage

The finished side edge of a rug, where the wefts turn and the outermost warps are bound. The selvedge is wrapped, often in a colored wool or silk yarn, to seal the edge and protect it from wear. A damaged selvedge — like a damaged fringe — can be repaired but should be addressed before the weave starts to unravel.

See also: Fringe · End finish

Semi-antique

A trade term for a rug between roughly 30 and 60 years old — old enough to have softened with age but not yet a full antique. Often used interchangeably with "vintage." Many semi-antiques offer excellent value: the patina of age without the price premium of a true antique.

See also: Antique · Vintage

Senneh rugs

From the city of Senneh (modern Sanandaj) in Persian Kurdistan. Senneh rugs are unusually thin and tightly woven, with very small knots and remarkably fine drawing — herati and boteh all-over patterns are most common. Confusingly, despite the name, Senneh weavers actually use the Turkish (symmetric) knot, not the asymmetric "Senneh" knot named for the city.

See also: Persian knot · Kurdish

Serapi

A trade term — not a place name — for the finest and oldest Heriz rugs, generally pre-1900. Serapis have more open, flowing geometric drawing than later Heriz rugs, with softer abrash-rich color and looser proportions. Highly sought by collectors and decorators.

See also: Heriz · Bakshaish

Shah Abbasi palmette

A distinctive palmette form, often paired with cloud bands and arabesque vines, named for Shah Abbas I (1571–1629) under whose patronage the design crystallized. The Shah Abbasi pattern is most associated with Isfahan but appears in Kashan, Mashhad, and Nain. One of the most formal and recognizable of all Persian designs.

See also: Palmette · Isfahan · Safavid

Shahsevan

A Turkic-speaking nomadic confederation of northwestern Iran. Shahsevan weavings are best known for their dramatic flatwoven kilims, soumaks, and mafrash (bedding bags), in saturated indigo and madder geometric designs with cross-and-hook motifs. Their pile rugs are rarer but equally bold.

See also: Soumak · Tribal rugs

Shearing

The trimming of the rug's pile to a uniform height after weaving. Done twice — once during weaving and once after — using either large shears or a finely controlled blade. Shearing height affects how crisply the design reads and how the wool catches light.

See also: Pile · Cut pile

Shiraz

"Shiraz" is technically not a weaving center but a trade hub in Fars Province where Qashqai, Khamseh, Lori, and other tribal rugs of southwestern Iran have been brought to market for centuries. Rugs sold as "Shiraz" are almost always the work of one of those tribes — most commonly Qashqai or Khamseh.

See also: Qashqai · Lori

Silk

The fine, lustrous protein fiber unwound from silkworm cocoons. Silk is extraordinarily strong for its weight, takes dye with breathtaking saturation, and reflects light in a way no other fiber does. In rugs, silk appears as pile (in the finest Qum, Hereke, Nain, and Isfahan pieces), as a highlight worked into a wool pile, or as a foundation. All-silk piles are usually too fine for floor use and are often displayed as wall hangings.

See also: Qum · Isfahan · Art silk

Sisal

A stiff, coarse fiber from the leaves of the Agave sisalana plant. Stronger and harder-wearing than other natural plant fibers, sisal is used for flat-woven naturals, often blended with wool. Sensitive to moisture and can stain readily.

See also: Jute

Soumak — also sumak

A flat-woven structure in which the weft strands are wrapped over and around the warps (typically over four, back under two) to produce a thick, herringbone-textured surface. Soumaks have no pile but feel substantial underfoot. Made historically in the Caucasus, eastern Anatolia, and by the Shahsevan; widely revived today.

See also: Flatweave · Kilim · Shahsevan

Spandrel — also corner

The triangular or quarter-arch corner sections of a rug's field that frame a central medallion. In a classic "medallion and corners" composition, the spandrels often echo the medallion's design in miniature, completing the visual logic of the field.

See also: Medallion · Field

Spanish knot

A rare single-warp knot, tied around just one warp thread, used historically in Spain and a few Egyptian Coptic and early Central Asian rugs. The least common of the major rug knots; not used in mainstream weaving today.

See also: Persian knot · Turkish knot

Sultanabad

From the Arak region of west-central Iran (Sultanabad was Arak's older name). Sultanabad rugs are typically room-size to oversize, with large-scale all-over designs of scrolling palmettes and leafy vines in a soft, decorator-friendly palette of biscuit, gold, terracotta, sage, and ivory. The "Ziegler Sultanabad" — produced for the British firm Ziegler & Co. in the late 19th century — is the type-defining example and one of the most copied antique looks in the world.

See also: Mahal · Peshawar

Synthetic dyes

Dyes manufactured from chemistry rather than extracted from plants, animals, or minerals. The two main families used in rugs are the older, less stable anilines and the modern, color-fast chrome dyes. Well-made synthetic dyes are reliable and durable; the old prejudice against them was earned by the early anilines and is no longer fair to good chrome work.

See also: Natural dyes

Tabriz

From the ancient northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz — one of the oldest and most important weaving centers in the world. Tabriz weavers produce an enormous range of styles: medallion, all-over herati, mahi, hunting scenes, pictorial, Aubusson reproductions. Most use the Turkish knot, with a wool or wool-and-silk pile on cotton or silk foundation. Tabriz is also the home of the distinctive hooked weaving knife that has made its weavers among the fastest and most precise in Iran.

See also: Turkish knot · Mahi

Tea wash

A variety of antique wash in which steeped tea (or sometimes walnut hulls or pomegranate rinds) is applied to soften and warm the colors of a new rug. Adds a slight amber cast that can resemble the natural patina of an older piece.

Tekke

The largest of the historic Turkmen tribes, originally from what is now Turkmenistan. The Tekke gul — a slightly flattened octagon divided into quarters by a cross — is the most familiar of all Turkmen guls and the design that gave rise to most Pakistani and Afghan Bokharas.

See also: Turkoman · Gul · Pakistani Bokhara

Tibetan knot

A distinctive looping technique in which a continuous strand of yarn is wrapped around a horizontal metal rod sized to set the pile height, then cut to release a row of pile loops. Used in Tibetan and Nepalese rugs to produce a soft, slightly shaggy pile with a different drape than knotted-pile Persian weavings.

See also: Tibetan rug

Tibetan rug

The major Himalayan weaving tradition, with most contemporary production based in Nepal. Tibetan rugs use the unique Tibetan loop knot and historically featured tiger, dragon, and lotus motifs in saturated naturals. Modern Tibetan workshops produce some of the most innovative contemporary hand-knotted rugs in the world.

Tracking

The temporary footprints or pressure marks left in a cut-pile rug after pressure is applied. Tracking is normal and disappears with vacuuming, foot traffic, or a gentle brushing in the direction of the nap.

See also: Nap · Cut pile

Transitional

A modern design category for rugs that sit between strictly traditional Persian/Oriental and strictly contemporary — they borrow the construction and palette of classical rugs but soften, abstract, or simplify the patterns. The most decorator-friendly category in today's market.

See also: Contemporary

Tree of Life

One of the oldest and most universal images in rug design: a large tree growing from the bottom border, its branches and blossoms rising to fill the field, sometimes with birds or animals among the branches. The Tree of Life symbolizes the connection between earth and heaven, the continuity of family, and the rivers of paradise. Used in Persian, Baluch, Caucasian, and Indian weaving.

See also: One-sided · Cypress · Baluch

Tribal rugs

Rugs woven by nomadic or semi-nomadic peoples — typically on horizontal ground looms, from memory rather than from a cartoon, in geometric designs passed down through generations. Tribal rugs are usually smaller (the loom must travel) and use wool foundations rather than cotton. Major tribal groups include the Qashqai, Bakhtiari, Baluch, Turkmen, Shahsevan, Kurdish, and Berber.

See also: Qashqai · Bakhtiari · Baluch

Turkish knot — Ghiordes knot, symmetric knot, Turkbaff

A symmetrical knot in which the yarn wraps around both warps and the two ends emerge together between the same pair of warps. Compared to the asymmetric Persian knot, the Turkish knot is bulkier and stronger but cannot be packed as densely — making it ideal for the bold geometric designs of Anatolia, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran, and less suited to the curvilinear floral work of city Persian rugs.

See also: Persian knot · Jufti knot · Geometric

Turkish rugs — Anatolian

The other great pole of Oriental weaving alongside Persian. Turkish (Anatolian) rugs use the symmetric Turkish knot, favor geometric and rectilinear designs, often feature prayer rug arches, and tend toward warm reds, golds, and burnt oranges. Major weaving centers include Hereke (silk and wool), Ushak, Konya, Kayseri, and Bergama.

See also: Turkish knot · Geometric · Prayer rug

Turkoman — also Turkmen, Turcoman

Rugs woven by Turkmen tribes — Tekke, Yomud, Salor, Ersari, Saryk — across Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. The defining feature is the repeating gul, with each tribe's gul as its woven heraldry. Palette tends toward deep madder reds, claret, aubergine, and dark indigo. Antique Turkmen weavings are among the oldest continuously produced rug types.

See also: Tekke · Yomud · Khal Mohammadi · Pakistani Bokhara

Vase pattern

A composition built around one or more woven vases (usually styled as a Greek urn) overflowing with stylized flowering branches. The vase often sits in the lower field with the floral spray extending upward — symbolizing abundance and the paradisal garden. Especially associated with Kerman and certain antique Kashan rugs.

See also: Kerman · Garden design

Veramin

From the village of Veramin south of Tehran. Veramin rugs are best known for their disciplined all-over use of the mina-khani pattern in deep red and indigo. A quietly excellent, highly underrated village weaving.

Vintage

A loose trade term, generally used for rugs roughly 25–50 years old — younger than antique, older than contemporary. Overlaps heavily with semi-antique. In the modern market, "vintage" often connotes a faded, decorator-friendly look from mid-century Turkey or Iran.

See also: Semi-antique

Viscose

A regenerated cellulose fiber made from wood pulp, marketed in rugs as "art silk," "bamboo silk," or "tencel." Viscose is brilliantly lustrous and inexpensive but extremely vulnerable: it weakens and discolors permanently with water, mats quickly under traffic, and is nearly impossible to clean. Best treated as a low-traffic decorative material, never installed in dining rooms, kitchens, entryways, or pet-and-kid households.

See also: Art silk · Silk

Warp

The vertical, parallel strands strung tightly on a loom that form the rug's backbone. Knots are tied around pairs of warps as the rug is built up row by row, and the warps are what emerge at the top and bottom of the finished rug as the fringe. Cotton is the standard warp material in city and village rugs; wool in tribal rugs; silk in the finest pieces.

See also: Weft · Fringe · Foundation

Washing

(1) A finishing process applied to a new rug to soften colors and improve luster — see antique wash and luster wash. (2) Regular maintenance washing of a rug in use, ideally done by hand by an experienced rug-washer every 3–5 years. Hand-knotted rugs should never be machine-washed and almost never put into a power-spray "carpet cleaner."

Weave

To form a rug on a loom by interlacing warp and weft yarns and (in pile rugs) tying knots around the warps. There are three classic techniques: pile weave (knotted), flat weave (no knots), and hand-tufted (looped through a backing).

See also: Hand-knotted · Flatweave · Hand-tufted

Weft

The horizontal strands the weaver passes between rows of knots, locking the knots in place and binding the warps together. Most fine rugs use two weft passes between each row of knots (double weft); single-wefted rugs are lighter and more flexible. The weft is almost invisible in the finished rug — it's hidden under the pile — but it does most of the structural work.

See also: Warp · Double weft

Weld

An important natural yellow dye, derived from the flowering tops of the Reseda luteola plant. Less precious than saffron but reliable and color-fast; many old yellow fields and accents in Persian and Turkish rugs were dyed with weld.

See also: Natural dyes · Saffron

Wool

The defining fiber of hand-knotted rugs. Wool is naturally resilient (it bounces back from compression for decades), oily enough to resist soil and water, takes natural dyes beautifully, ages gracefully, and is genuinely fire-retardant. The quality of wool — its luster, length of staple, oil content — varies dramatically by region: Persian kork, Afghan Ghazni, Indian Chokla, New Zealand merino each behave differently on the loom and on the floor.

See also: Kork wool · Ghazni wool · Chokla wool · Hand-spun

Workshop rug

A rug woven in a small organized workshop — a master weaver and a few apprentices — rather than a single home weaver or a large factory. Workshop rugs work from cartoons, use fine cotton or silk foundations, and represent the bulk of "city" Persian production: Tabriz, Isfahan, Nain, Qum, Kashan.

See also: Cartoon · Tribal rugs

Worn (condition)

The lowest of the standard trade condition grades. A worn rug has significantly low pile, may show some bald spots, may have repaired or missing fringes or selvedges, and may have stains or holes. Many worn antiques remain beautiful and are restored to long usable life by a skilled restorer; price reflects condition.

See also: Average · Fine

Yarn

A continuous strand of twisted fibers — wool, silk, cotton — produced by spinning. Yarn is described by its fiber content, its thickness, the direction of its twist (S or Z), and whether it is hand-spun or machine-spun. Hand-spun yarns are naturally uneven and produce richer, more luminous color in the finished rug.

See also: Hand-spun · Wool

Yomud — Yomut, Yomuth

A major Turkmen tribe historically centered on the southeastern Caspian coast. Yomud rugs are immediately recognizable by their distinctive gul — a diamond or lozenge shape ("Yomud Ayca" flower) — and their saturated madder-and-indigo palettes. Yomud weavings include rugs, kilims, mafrash (storage bags), asmalyk (camel trappings), and tent door hangings.

See also: Turkoman · Gul

Z-twist & S-twist

The two directions in which spun yarn can be twisted, named for the direction the diagonal lines lean — like the diagonal stroke of the letter Z (right-leaning) or S (left-leaning). Different weaving regions traditionally favor one direction over the other, and the twist direction can sometimes help authenticate or attribute a rug. Most Persian rugs use Z-spun wool plied S-direction.

See also: Yarn · Hand-spun