cravat

English

WOTD – 20 June 2017

From French cravate,^[1] an appellative use of Cravate (“Croat”), from Dutch Krawaat, from German Krawatte, from Serbo-Croatian Hr̀vāt/Хр̀ва̄т (“Croat”). The cravat is regarded as originating from a linen scarf worn by Croatian mercenaries which was adopted into French fashion in the 17th century.^[2] Doublet of Croat.

cravat (plural cravats)

A wide fabric band worn as a necktie by men having long ends hanging in front.
- 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 3:
  It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
- 2025, S.E. Case, chapter 1, in Rigsby WI‎^[2], volume 1: Foothold, →ISBN, retrieved 23 August 2025, page 9:
  I'm not like, a fashion person, so maybe I just don't get it, but I don't even understand how you're going to match. What, are you going to get like... a cravat that's the same color as her dress? / I would rock a dope cravat.
(historical) A decorative fabric band or scarf worn around the neck by women.
(surgery) A bandage resembling a cravat, particularly a triangular bandage folded into a strip.

wide fabric band

cravat (third-person singular simple present cravats, present participle cravatting, simple past and past participle cravatted)

(transitive, rare) To adorn with a cravat; to tie a cravat, or something resembling a cravat, around the neck.

^ Kukolja, Kristina (21 January 2026), “How the word 'cravat' came from the battlefields of 17th century Europe”, in Word of the Week‎^[1], NPR, retrieved 21 January 2026
^ “cravat, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2013.