---
title: "Pile"
description: "Pile is the surface of a textile made of upright loops or cut tufts of yarn standing up from a ground weave."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/pile
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Pile

*Pile is the surface of a textile made of upright loops or cut tufts of yarn standing up from a ground weave.*

In a pile fabric an extra set of yarns is woven or knotted into a base cloth and left standing above it, either as loops (terry, uncut velvet) or cut tufts ([velvet](https://teazle.art/glossary/velvet.md), [corduroy](https://teazle.art/glossary/corduroy.md), knotted carpets).

## How is pile different from nap?

Pile is a structure built into the cloth; [nap](https://teazle.art/glossary/nap.md) is raised from the fibres of the cloth itself by brushing. Both have a direction.


## Sources

1. [Pile (AAT 300227868)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300227868). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Pile (Q2397733)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2397733). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/pile