---
title: "Sequin"
description: "A sequin is a small shiny disc, pierced for sewing to cloth, whose name comes from the Venetian gold coin called the zecchino."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/sequin
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Sequin

*A sequin is a small shiny disc, pierced for sewing to cloth, whose name comes from the Venetian gold coin called the zecchino.*

A sequin is a small shiny disc with a hole, sewn to cloth for decoration. The word comes from the Venetian gold coin, the zecchino, by way of French, and meant a coin before it meant a disc. Sequins have been cut from gold, silver, steel and brass, and later made from gelatin, cellulose nitrate and other plastics.

## Where does the word come from?

[Etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/sequin) traces it from French *sequin* to Italian *zecchino*, the gold coin of the Venetian Republic, and dates the decorative sense to fashion articles of 1852. Another account, citing the Oxford English Dictionary, gives 1882 for the first use of the word for the discs, so the sources disagree by thirty years. See [zecchino](https://teazle.art/glossary/zecchino.md).

## How is a sequin different from a spangle?

A [spangle](https://teazle.art/glossary/spangle.md) is the older English word for a metal disc sewn to cloth. Some writers keep *spangle* for discs coiled from wire and *sequin* for punched ones, but museum catalogs use the words loosely.

## What were sequins made of?

A survey of late nineteenth and early twentieth century costumes found gold, silver, steel and brass, as well as gelatin, varnishes, cellulose nitrate and various plastics ([Paulocik and Williams, 2010](https://www.cac-accr.ca/publications/the-chemical-composition-and-conservation-of-late-19th-and-early-20th-century-sequins/)). Heat, water and solvents can severely damage several of those materials. A larger flat disc is often called a [paillette](https://teazle.art/glossary/paillette.md).


## Sources

1. [Sequin (etymology)](https://www.etymonline.com/word/sequin). Etymonline
2. [The Chemical Composition and Conservation of Late 19th and Early 20th Century Sequins](https://www.cac-accr.ca/publications/the-chemical-composition-and-conservation-of-late-19th-and-early-20th-century-sequins/). Journal of the Canadian Association for Conservation, vol. 35 (2010)
3. [Terminology: Sequins vs. Spangles (& their history in fashion)](https://thedreamstress.com/2017/02/terminology-sequins-vs-spangles-their-history-in-fashion/). The Dreamstress
4. [Coif, 1600–30, 64.101.1242](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/228951). The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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