Mondo Knows Facts
The plastic or metal tip on a shoelace is called an aglet
Aglets prevent shoelace fibres from fraying and ease eyelet threading
The small plastic or metal sheath bound to the end of a shoelace is known as an aglet. Derived from the Old French word aiguillette, meaning a needle, it keeps fabric fibres from unravelling. It also stiffens the end to make threading lace eyelets much easier.
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Tags: clothing, footwear, language
The plastic or metal tip on a shoelace is called an aglet: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Aglets prevent shoelace fibres from fraying and ease eyelet threading. The figure is taken from Oxford English Dictionary, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a everyday life fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Everyday Life shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.