The Plastic End of a Shoelace is Called an Aglet
October 3, 2011 at 2:00 am Chad Upton 7 comments
By Chad Upton | Editor
Originally and occasionally still, Aglets are made from metal, often copper or brass.
The word Aglet (or Aiglet) comes from an old french word, aguillette and it’s root word is aguille, which means needle. This makes sense since aglets make it easy to thread laces through eyelets in garments and shoes.
Metal aglets can still be found on garments, although usually as decorative accents rather than functional fasteners. Some of these decorative aglets are made from stone or glass and even shaped like small figurines. These go back to at least the fifteenth century, even Shakespeare references an “aglet baby” in The Taming of the Shrew.
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Sources: wikipedia (aglet), dictionary.com
Entry filed under: Demystified. Tags: aglet, aiglet, shakespeare, shoelace.
Broken Secrets 
1.
T! | October 3, 2011 at 2:16 am
I thought they were called fluglebinders.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1DdDYALaLQ#t=408s
2.
Cory | October 3, 2011 at 5:39 am
the french words are “aiguillette” and “aiguille”.
3.
Chris | October 3, 2011 at 2:21 pm
“The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister!”
-The Question
4.
JLU | December 8, 2012 at 9:30 am
Lol, Queston is the reason that i’m researching shoe lace tips.
5.
Matthew | October 3, 2011 at 3:23 pm
I learnt this from ‘Phineas and Ferb’! :)
6.
Chad Upton | October 5, 2011 at 9:41 pm
I had to look up Phineas and Ferb, apparently I’m watching the wrong cartoons. ;)
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