gingham n.

cotton fabric woven of plain dyed yarns, 1610s, from Dutch gingang, a traders' rendering of a Malay (Austronesian) word said to be ginggang, meaning "striped" [OED], or else "perishable, fading" [Century Dictionary], used as a noun with the sense of "striped cotton." Also from the same source are French guingan (18c.), Spanish guinga, Italian gingano, German gingang.