Knowledge HUB : Aglets

Agwhats?

Aglets, the ickle pieces of plastic found at the end of shoelaces. You always wondered what they were called didn't you? They were famously discussed by Tom Cruise in the blockbuster Cocktail but the word has been around for ages - originally acus in Latin, which means needle or point, then accula in Latin, a diminutive form of the above. Translated into French, the word became aguillette from which we now have "aglet".

Etymology aside, the idea was used as long ago as the Romans and the Egyptians who tied off the end of bandages for mummies with waxy aglets.