Brussels

The word “Brussels” means a type of thick, patterned carpet with a looped (uncut) woven pile, originally made in Brussels. In plain terms, lowercase "brussels" can refer to a style of looped-pile carpet or, informally, to Brussels sprouts — separate from the Belgian capital city, which is always capitalized.

“Brussels” is pronounced BRUH-suhlz (/ˈbɹʌsəlz/ in IPA).

Here is “Brussels” used in a sentence: “The hallway was fitted with an old-fashioned brussels carpet.”

“Brussels” is a noun.

“Brussels” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Brussels” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a type of thick, patterned carpet with a looped (uncut) woven pile, originally made in Brussels.

The standard form is "Brussels sprouts," with a final -s on Brussels, because the vegetable is named after the Belgian city. In speech that -s tends to disappear before "sprouts," which is why "brussel sprouts" is such a common misspelling. Informally, the vegetable can even be shortened to just "Brussels."

A Brussels carpet is woven with a looped pile: the loops are left uncut, giving a firm, slightly ribbed surface. A Wilton-style carpet is made in a similar way but has its loops cut, producing a softer, velvet-like pile. The looped, uncut pile is the defining feature of a Brussels.

Traditionally yes, because the name comes from the city of Brussels. Many modern dictionaries and style guides also accept lowercase "brussels sprouts," treating it like other place-derived food names such as "french fries." The capital B remains the safer choice in formal writing.

Despite ending in -s, Brussels is not a plural form; the -s is simply part of the name, so as a carpet name it behaves as an ordinary singular noun ("a Brussels carpet"). As an informal word for Brussels sprouts, however, it is normally treated as plural: "Are there any Brussels left?"