tissue Look up tissue at Dictionary.com
mid-14c., "band or belt of rich material," from O.Fr. tissu "a ribbon, headband, belt of woven material" (c.1200), noun use of tissu "woven, interlaced," pp. of tistre "to weave," from L. texere "weave" (see texture). The biological sense is first recorded 1831, from Fr., introduced c.1800 by Fr. anatomist Marie-François-Xavier Bichal (1771-1802). Tissue-paper is from 1777, supposedly so called because it was made to be placed between tissues to protect them. Meaning "piece of absorbent paper used as a handkerchief" is from 1929.