handkerchief

English

Etymology

A linen handkerchief.

From hand +‎ kerchief.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhæŋkət͡ʃɪf/, /-t͡ʃiːf/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation); /ˈhæŋkət͡ʃiːf/:

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhæŋkəɹt͡ʃəf/, [ˈheɪŋ-]

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hand‧ker‧chief

Noun

handkerchief (plural handkerchiefs or handkerchieves)

1. A piece of cloth, usually square and often fine and elegant, carried for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands.

   Synonyms: (informal) hanky, pocket handkerchief

   Hyponym: pocket square

   He sneezed into his handkerchief during the meeting.

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

     Mr. Banks’ panama hat was in one hand, while the other drew a handkerchief across his perspiring brow.

   • 1937, Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon:

     Harriet, who was as a rule good at handkerchiefs, discovered to her annoyance that on this particular morning she had provided herself only with an elegant square of linen, suitable for receiving such rare and joyful drops as might be expected on one’s honeymoon. Peter came to the rescue with what might have been a young flag of truce.

2. A piece of cloth shaped like a handkerchief to be worn about the neck; a neckerchief or neckcloth.

Alternative forms

• handkercher (obsolete)

Derived terms

• drop the handkerchief
• flying handkerchief
• handkerchief code
• handkerchiefed
• handkerchiefful
• handkerchiefless
• handkerchief tree
• pocket-handkerchief
• smell like a tart's handkerchief
• Spanish handkerchief
• throw the handkerchief

Descendants

• Cameroon Pidgin: hángis
• Krio: ɛnkincha
• Maroon Spirit Language: ingkecha
• Pichinglis: hankécha
• Sranan Tongo: angisa
  • Aukan: angisa
  • Saramaccan: ángísa, hángísa
  • → Dutch: angisa
• → Hawaiian: hinakā
• → Māori: aikiha

Translations

cloth for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands

• Afrikaans: sakdoek
• Albanian: shami (sq) f
• Arabic: مِنْدِيل m (mindīl), مَحْرَمَة f (maḥrama)

  Egyptian Arabic: منديل m (mandīl)

• Armenian: թաշկինակ (hy) (tʻaškinak)
• Assamese: ৰুমাল (rumal)
• Asturian: pañuelu m
• Azerbaijani: məndil, dəsmal (az), cib dəsmalı
• Bashkir: ҡулъяулыҡ (qulyawlıq)
• Belarusian: насо́ўка f (nasówka), насава́я ху́стачка (nasavája xústačka), ху́стачка f (xústačka)
• Bengali: রুমাল (bn) (rumal)
• Bulgarian: но́сна къ́рпа f (nósna kǎ́rpa), къ́рпичка f (kǎ́rpička)
• Burmese: လက်ကိုင်ပဝါ (my) (lakkuingpa.wa)
• Catalan: mocador (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手帕 (zh) (shǒupà), 手絹 / 手绢 (zh) (shǒujuàn)

• Crimean Tatar: yavluq
• Czech: kapesník (cs) m
• Dalmatian: fazuol m, sedarul m
• Danish: lommetørklæde (da) n
• Dutch: zakdoek (nl) m
• Elfdalian: snortrasu f, snorslarv f
• Esperanto: naztuko, poŝtuko
• Estonian: taskurätik (et), taskurätt (et)
• Faroese: lummaturriklæði n
• Finnish: nenäliina (fi)
• French: mouchoir (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: bûsdoek

• Friulian: façolet m, smočhìt
• Galician: pano da man m, pano (gl) m
• Georgian: ცხვირსახოცი (cxvirsaxoci)
• German: Taschentuch (de) m
• Greek: μαντήλι (el) n (mantíli)

  Ancient Greek: σουδάριον n (soudárion)

• Greenlandic: kakkissarfik
• Hawaiian: hinakā
• Hebrew: מִמחָטָה (he) f (mimkhatá)
• Hindi: रूमाल (hi) m (rūmāl)
• Hungarian: zsebkendő (hu)
• Icelandic: vasaklútur (is)
• Ido: nazotuko (io)
• Indonesian: saputangan (id)
• Ingrian: nenärätti
• Irish: ciarsúr (ga) m, ciarsúr póca m, naipcín póca m
• Istriot: fassulito m
• Italian: fazzoletto (it) m
• Japanese: ハンカチ (ja) (hankachi), ハンカチーフ (ja) (hankachīfu), 鼻拭き (ja) (はなふき, hanafuki)
• Kazakh: қол орамал (qol oramal)
• Khmer: កន្សែងដៃ (kɑnsaeng day)
• Korean: 손수건 (ko) (sonsugeon)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەسەسڕ (desesrr), دەستەسڕ (destesrr)

  Northern Kurdish: destmal (ku), peçete (ku), paçik (ku)

• Kyrgyz: бет аарчы (bet aarcı), бет аарчу жоолук (bet aarcu jooluk)
• Ladino: rizá f, ridá f
• Lao: ມົນ (mon), ແພມົນ (phǣ mon), ຜ້າເຊັດໜ້າ (phā set nā)
• Latin: sūdārium m
• Latvian: kabatlakats m, kabatlakatiņš m (diminutive), mutautiņš m
• Lithuanian: nosinė f, nosinaitė f
• Luxembourgish: Nuesnappech
• Macedonian: шамивче n (šamivče), марамче n (maramče)
• Malay: sapu tangan
• Maltese: maktur m
• Māori: aikiha
• Marathi: रुमाल m (rumāl)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: нусны алчуур (nusny alčuur), гурвалжин алчуур (gurvalžin alčuur)

  Mongolian script: ᠭᠠᠷ
  ᠠᠯᠴᠢᠭᠤᠷ (ɣar alčiɣur)

• Neapolitan: maccaturo m
• Norman: mouoché m, torche-nez m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lommetørkle n

  Nynorsk: lommetørkle n

• Occitan: mocador (oc) m
• Ojibwe: moshwens
• Pannonian Rusyn: хусточка f (xustočka)
• Pashto: دستمال (ps) m (dastmāl), دسمال (ps) m (dəsmāl)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: دَسْتْمال (dastmâl), رومال (fa) (rumâl)

• Polish: chusteczka do nosa (pl) f, chusteczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: lenço (pt) m
• Romanian: batistă (ro) f, năframă (ro) f
• Romansh: faziel m, fazielet m, fazöl m, fazalet m
• Russian: носово́й плато́к (ru) m (nosovój platók), плато́к (ru) m (platók), плато́чек (ru) m (platóček)
• Rwanda-Rundi:

  Kinyarwanda: umushwara

• Sardinian: macadori, mucadore, mancaloru
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̀рамица f

  Latin: màramica (sh) f

• Sicilian: fazzulettu (scn) m
• Slovak: vreckovka f
• Slovene: robec (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: šantk m

  Upper Sorbian: nósnik m, šnuptichl m

• Spanish: pañuelo (es) m, moquero (es) m, mocador m
• Swahili: leso (sw), hanchifu
• Swedish: näsduk (sv)
• Tagalog: panyo, panyolito
• Tajik: дастмол (dastmol), рӯймол (rüymol), рӯмол (rümol), румол (rumol)
• Tamil: கைக்குட்டை (ta) (kaikkuṭṭai)
• Tatar: кулъяулык (tt) (qülʹyawlıq)
• Thai: ผ้าเช็ดหน้า (th) (pâa-chét-nâa)
• Tok Pisin: hankisip
• Turkish: mendil (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: یاغلق (yağlık), دستار (destar); چوره (çevre) (of muslin)

• Turkmen: elýaglyk
• Ukrainian: носова́ ху́стка f (nosová xústka), ху́стка f (xústka), ху́сточка f (xústočka)
• Unami: akontpèpi
• Urdu: رُومال m (rūmāl), دَسْت مال m (dast māl)
• Uyghur: قول ياغلىق (qol yaghliq)
• Uzbek: dastroʻmol (uz), roʻmolcha (uz)
• Varhadi: दस्ती (dastī)
• Venetan: fasołeto m
• Vietnamese: khăn tay (vi), mùi soa (vi), mu-xoa
• Volapük: pokasärvätül (vo)
• Welsh: hances (cy) f, macyn (cy) m, ffunen f, neisied f, cadach (cy) m
• Yiddish: נאָזטיכל n (noztikhl), טיכל n (tikhl)
• Zazaki: desmal (diq)

cloth to be worn about the neck — see neckerchief

Further reading

• handkerchief on Wikipedia.Wikipedia