Braid

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A braid refers to a rope created by interweaving or twining three or more separate strands of one or more materials in a diagonally overlapping pattern. Braids are commonly involved in rope making. Simple braids with more than three strands can be flat or tubular and generally contain an odd number of strands. Complex braids have been used to create hanging fiber artworks. A braid is similar to a plait, which covers any type of knot forming a repeated pattern.

Braiding of fiber yarn creates a strand or rope that is thicker and stronger than the strands would have been separately. Braided ropes are preferred by arborists and rock climbers because they do not twist under load, as does an ordinary twisted-strand rope. These ropes consist of one or more concentric tubular braided jackets surrounding a single untwisted yarn of straight fibers.