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Leatherette is a cheap material made to look like leather — often plastic or coated cloth. You find it on sofas, cheap bags, and older car seats. The word began as a trademark and then became a general name. It can sound a little old-fashioned; shops today also say fake leather, faux leather, or vegan leather. The ending -ette here means “an ”, not “a small woman”. Though actually, it can still look like leather from far away, which is the whole point — and the disappointment, if you wanted the real thing.
人造皮；合成皮；仿皮。台灣店裡多說「人造皮」或「合成皮」，較少用這個英文詞。
組成leather + -ette. Here -ette means an imitation or substitute, not a female person. Originally a trademark, later a general word.
同家族的字
- leatherthe real material this imitates
- flannelettesame -ette meaning: an imitation of the real cloth
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
leatherettenoun詞源 1/ˌlɛðəˈɹɛt/
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A type of fabric, often plastic, made to imitate the appearance of leather.
- Many attempts have been made to supply a material to take the place of leather on cheap books, but hitherto nothing has been quite successful. [...] Such a material has apparently appeared in the form of "Leatherette," which is a kind of felted paper, very tough, the same colour throughout, and which may be grained to imitate leather; indeed, the imitation is so close, both in appearance and in feel, that only a practised eye can perceive that it is not leather.
- Material.—A rather stiff quality of jute board or tar board, similar to that used by bookbinders. Straw board is not serviceable, being too brittle. Also leatherette for covering and some figured paper for lining. Also some muslin or sateen for hinges. This should match the leatherette as nearly as possible in color. (Leatherette is an imitation leather, very durable, obtained at a paper house.)
leatherettenoun詞源 2/ˌlɛðəˈɹɛt/
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slangA person, especially a woman, who dresses in leather or imitation leather.
- The NYU [New York University] tarts and the club slime, the art holes and the once-a-week bridge-and-tunnel leatherettes, the spikes and the usual dregs and walking garbage, Eel was giving them all the hiss.
- Since I seemed to know some of the leatherettes, I was a magnet for fellow Jews wanting to know what was going on.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。