unwoven fabric matted together by rolling or beating while wet, Old English felt "felt," from West Germanic *feltaz "something beaten, compressed wool" (cognates: Old Saxon filt, Middle Dutch vilt, Old High German filz, German Filz, Danish filt), from Proto-Germanic *felt- "to beat," from PIE *pel- (6) "to thrust, strike, drive" (source also of Old Church Slavonic plŭstĭ), with a sense of "beating" (see pulse, n.1). Compare filter, n.. Felt-tipped pen (or -tip) is from 1953.