napkin

English

A folded napkin which formed part of a table setting in a hotel restaurant in Singapore

Etymology

From Middle English napkyn, equivalent to nape (“cloth”) +‎ -kin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnæp.kɪn/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

napkin (plural napkins)

1. A serviette; a (usually rectangular) piece of cloth or paper used at the table for wiping the mouth and hands for cleanliness while eating.
2. (Britain, South Africa) A nappy (UK), a diaper (American).
3. A small scarf worn on the head by Christian women (chiefly Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) when entering a church, as a token of modesty.
4. Short for sanitary napkin.

Derived terms

• napkinette
• napkin math
• napkin rash
• napkin ring
• sanitary napkin
• tail-napkin

 

Translations

serviette

• Albanian: pecetë (sq) f
• Arabic: مَنْدِيل‎ m (mandīl)

  Egyptian Arabic: منديل‎ m (mandil)

  Hijazi Arabic: منديل‎ m (mandīl)

  Egyptian Arabic: منديل‎ m (mandil)

  South Levantine Arabic: محرمة‎ f (máḥrame)

• Armenian: անձեռոցիկ (hy) (anjeṙocʿik), սալֆետկա (salfetka)
• Azerbaijani: salfet
• Belarusian: сурвэ́тка f (survétka), сурвэ́та f (survéta)
• Bengali: ন্যাপকিন (nêpokin), রুমাল (bn) (rumal)
• Bulgarian: салфе́тка f (salfétka)
• Burmese: လက်သုတ်ပဝါ (my) (laksutpa.wa)
• Catalan: tovalló (ca) m, torcaboques (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 餐巾 (zh) (cānjīn), 餐巾紙／餐巾纸 (zh) (cānjīnzhǐ)

• Czech: ubrousek (cs) m, servítek m
• Danish: serviet (da) c
• Dutch: servet (nl) n
• Esperanto: buŝtuko
• Estonian: salvrätik, salvrätt, salfrätik (colloquial), salfrätt (colloquial), salfakas (colloquial)
• Finnish: lautasliina (fi), servetti (fi), servietti (fi)
• French: serviette (fr) f
• Georgian: ხელსახოცი (xelsaxoci), სალფეთქი (salpetki) (non-standard)
• German: Serviette (de) f, Mundtuch n
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌹 n (aurali)
• Greek:

  Ancient: χειρόμακτρον n (kheirómaktron)

• Hebrew: מַפִּית‎ (he) f (mapít)
• Hindi: नैपकिन f (naipkin), रूमाल (hi) m (rūmāl)
• Hungarian: szalvéta (hu)
• Icelandic: servíetta f
• Ido: bokotuko (io)
• Indonesian: serbet (id)
• Italian: tovagliolo (it) m, salvietta f
• Japanese: ナプキン (ja) (napukin)
• Kazakh: майлық (mailyq), сулық (sulyq), салфетка (salfetka)
• Khmer: កន្សែង (km) (kɑnsaeng)
• Korean: 냅킨 (ko) (naepkin)
• Kurdish:

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

• Kyrgyz: салфетка (ky) (salfetka), майлык (maylık), чачык (ky) (cacık)
• Ladino: pecheta f, servieta f, maramán (Monastir)
• Lao: ຜ້າເຊັດມື (phā set mư̄), ຜ້າເຊັດ (phā set)
• Latin: mappa f, mantele (la) n, (Late) orarium n
• Latvian: salvete f, servjete f
• Lithuanian: servetėlė f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Serviett f, Munddook n

• Luxembourgish: Zervéit f
• Macedonian: салве́та f (salvéta), салфе́тка f (salfétka), салфе́та f (salféta)
• Malay: serbet
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: салфетка (salfetka), алчуур (mn) (alčuur), амны алчуур (amny alčuur), хоолойвч (mn) (xoolojvč)

• Norman: sèrviette f, drapé m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: serviett (no) m

  Nynorsk: serviett m

• Ottoman Turkish: پچته‎ (peçeta, peçete), دستار‎ (destar)
• Pashto: دستمال‎ (ps) m (dastmāl), دسمال‎ (ps) m (dәsmāl), توليا‎ f (tawlyā), رومال‎ (ps) m (romāl), رويمال‎ (ps) m (rūymāl)
• Pennsylvania German: Dellerduch n
• Persian: دستمال‎ (fa) (dastmâl), رومال‎ (fa) (rumâl), دستمال سفره‎ (fa) (dastmâl sofre)
• Polish: serwetka (pl) f
• Portuguese: guardanapo (pt) m
• Romanian: șervețel (ro) n
• Russian: салфе́тка (ru) f (salfétka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: салвѐта f, ру́бац m, у̀брус m, убручић m, убрусац m

  Roman: salvèta (sh) f, rúbac (sh) m, ùbrus (sh) m, ubručić m, ubrusac m

• Slovak: obrúsok m, servítka f
• Slovene: prtiček (sl) m
• Spanish: servilleta (es) f
• Swedish: servett (sv) c
• Tagalog: serbiliyeta
• Tajik: салфетка (salfetka), дастмол (dastmol), румол (rumol), рӯймол (rüymol)
• Telugu: తువ్వాలు (te) (tuvvālu)
• Thai: ผ้าเช็ดปาก (pâa-chét-bpàak)
• Turkish: peçete (tr)
• Turkmen: salfetka
• Ukrainian: серве́тка f (servétka)
• Urdu: نَیپکِن‎ f (naipkin), رومال‎ m (rūmāl)
• Uyghur: سالفېتكا‎ (salfëtka)
• Uzbek: salfetka (uz), sochiq (uz), dastmol (uz)
• Vietnamese: khăn ăn (vi)
• Yiddish: סערוועטקע‎ f (servetke)

diaper — see diaper

scarf

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 圍巾／围巾 (zh) (wéijīn)

• Finnish: huivi (fi)
• Hungarian: sál (hu)
• Macedonian: шамија f (šamija), марама f (marama)
• Russian: шарф (ru) m (šarf), шаль (ru) f (šalʹ)

sanitary napkin — see sanitary napkin

Cebuano

Etymology

From English napkin, from Middle English napkyn.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: nap‧kin

Noun

napkin

1. a sanitary napkin

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:napkin.

Middle English

Noun

napkin

1. Alternative form of napkyn

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English napkin.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: nap‧kin
• IPA^(key): /ˈnapkin/, [ˈnap.kɪn]

Noun

napkin (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜉ᜔ᜃᜒᜈ᜔)

1. sanitary napkin; menstrual pad
2. (uncommon) napkin; serviette

Further reading

• “napkin”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila: Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, 2018