towel

English

Etymology

From Middle English towayle, towel, towail, towaille, from Old French toaille (“towel”) (modern French touaille), from Frankish *thwahila (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahilō (“wash-cloth”, literally “something used for washing”), from *þwahaną (“to wash”). Cognate with Old High German dwahila (“towel”) (modern dialectal German Zwehle), Dutch dwaal (“towel”), dweil (“mop”), Low German Dweel (“towel”), Old English þwǣle (“band; ribbon; fillet”), Old English þwēan (“to wash”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: toul, touʹəl
• IPA^(key): /taʊl/, /ˈtaʊ.əl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊl, -aʊəl

Noun

towel (plural towels)

1. A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, as a person after a bath.

Hyponyms

• lavabo
• see also Derived terms below

Derived terms

• cum towel
• dishtowel
• hand towel
• kitchen towel
• paper towel
• paper toweling
• roller towel
• sanitary towel
• tea towel
• throw in the towel
• towelette
• towelhead
• towel-horse
• toweling
• towelless
• towellike
• towel rail
• towel snap
• Turkish towel

 

Translations

cloth used for wiping

• Adyghe: нэпэӏэплъэкӏ (nɛpɛʼɛplˢɛkʼ)
• Afrikaans: handdoek
• Albanian: peshqir (sq) m
• Arabic: مَنْشَفَة f (manšafa)

  Egyptian Arabic: فوطة f (fūṭa)

  Hijazi Arabic: مِنْشَفة f (minšafa)

• Armenian: սրբիչ (hy) (srbičʻ)
• Aromanian: prusopi f
• Asturian: toballa f, toalla f
• Azerbaijani: məhrəba, dəsmal (az)
• Bashkir: таҫтамал (taśtamal)
• Belarusian: ручні́к m (ručník), рушні́к m (rušník)
• Bengali: তোয়ালে (tōẇale)
• Brunei Malay: tuala
• Bulgarian: къ̀рпа (bg) f (kǎ̀rpa), пешки́р (bg) m (peškír), ръчени́к (bg) m (rǎčeník)
• Burmese: မျက်နှာသုတ်ပဝါ (my) (myakhnasutpa.wa)
• Catalan: tovallola (ca) f
• Cebuano: toalya
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 毛巾 (mou⁴ gan¹)

  Mandarin: 毛巾 (zh) (máojīn), 手巾 (zh) (shǒujīn, shǒujin)

• Crimean Tatar: yüzbez, testimal (northern dialect), avlu (northern dialect)
• Czech: ručník (cs) m
• Danish: håndklæde (da) n (of cloth), papir (da) (of paper), serviet (da) (of paper)
• Dutch: handdoek (nl) m
• Elfdalian: andduk m
• Esperanto: viŝilo, mantuko
• Estonian: rätik
• Faroese: hondklæði n, handklæði n
• Finnish: pyyhe (fi), pyyheliina (fi)
• French: serviette (fr) f
• Galician: toalla f
• Gallurese: maccrammè, sciuamanu
• Georgian: პირსახოცი (ṗirsaxoci)
• German: Handtuch (de) n
• Greek: πετσέτα (el) (petséta)
• Greenlandic: allarut
• Gujarati: ટુવાલ (ṭuvāl)
• Hebrew: מַגֶּבֶת (he) f (magévet)
• Hiligaynon: tualya
• Hindi: तौलिया (hi) m (tauliyā), अंगोछा m (aṅgochā)
• Hungarian: törülköző (hu)
• Icelandic: handklæði (is) n
• Ido: toalo (io)
• Indonesian: handuk (id)
• Irish: tuáille (ga) m
• Italian: asciugamano (it)
• Japanese: タオル (taoru)
• Javanese:

  Carakan: ꦲꦤ꧀ꦝꦸꦏ꧀ (andhuk)

  Roman: andhuk

• Kazakh: сүлгі (kk) (sülgı)
• Khmer: កន្សែង (km) (kɑnsaeng)
• Korean: 타월 (tawol), 수건 (ko) (sugeon)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Kyrgyz: сүлгү (ky) (sülgü), суулук (ky) (suuluk)
• Lao: ຂົນຫນູ (khon nū), ຜ້າເຊັດໂຕ (phā set tō), ຜ້າເຊັດ (phā set)
• Latin: mantēle
• Latvian: dvielis m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: rankšluostis m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Dweel m, Handdook n

• Luhya: etaulo
• Lun Bawang: anduk
• Luxembourgish: Handduch n
• Lü: ᦕᦱᧉᦵᦋᧆᦐᦱᧉ (ṗhaa²tsedṅaa²)
• Macedonian: пе́шкир m (péškir), крпа f (krpa), рачник m (račnik)
• Malay: tuala
• Maltese: xugaman m
• Middle English: towayle
• Mongolian: алчуур (mn) (alčuur)
• Navajo: beeʼádítʼoodí, beeʼádítʼoodí yázhí (face towel)
• Norman: sèrviette f (Jersey)
• Northern Sami: sihkaldat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: håndkle (no) n, handkle n

  Nynorsk: handkle n, handklede n

• Persian: حوله (fa) (hole), آبچین (fa) (âbčin)
• Polish: ręcznik (pl) m
• Portuguese: toalha (pt) f
• Romanian: prosop (ro) n
• Romansch: sientamauns m
• Russian: полоте́нце (ru) n (poloténce), рушни́к (ru) (rušník) (regional), ручни́к (ru) m (ručník) (regional)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: tialla de facci, tiallòra

  Logudorese: frobbidoryu, frobbidorzu

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пѐшкӣр m, у̀брус m, ру̀чнӣк m

  Roman: pèškīr (sh) m, ùbrus (sh) m, rùčnīk (sh) m

• Slovak: uterák (sk) m, ručník m
• Slovene: brisača (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: trjenje

• Spanish: toalla (es) f
• Swahili: taulo (sw)
• Swedish: handduk (sv)
• Tagalog: tuwalya
• Tajik: дастурӯпоккун (dasturüpokkun), танпоккун (tanpokkun), сачоқ (sačoq)
• Tamil: துவாலை (ta) (tuvālai)
• Taos: tûoyoną
• Tatar: сөлге (tt) (sölge)
• Telugu: తువాలు (te) (tuvālu)
• Thai: ผ้าขนหนู (th) (pâa-kǒn-nǔu), ผ้าเช็ดตัว (th) (pâa-chét-dtuua)
• Tibetan: ཨ་ཅོར (a cor), ཞལ་ཅོར (zhal cor) (honorific)
• Turkish: havlu (tr), peşkir (tr)
• Turkmen: polotenste, polotense
• Ukrainian: рушни́к (uk) n (rušnýk)
• Urdu: تولیه m (tauliya)
• Uzbek: sochiq (uz)
• Vietnamese: khăn (vi)
• Waray-Waray: tu-alya
• Welsh: tywel (cy) f
• Yami: tenegey
• Yiddish: האַנטעך n (hantekh)
• Zazaki: hewli, abçin, pésger, holi

Verb

towel (third-person singular simple present towels, present participle toweling or towelling, simple past and past participle toweled or towelled)

1. (transitive) To hit with a towel.
2. (transitive) To dry by using a towel.

   He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.

3. (transitive) To block up (a door, etc.) with a towel, to conceal the fumes of a recreational drug.
   • 2012, Dave Tomar, The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat:

     We would open the windows, towel the door, and turn my bedroom into an Allman Brothers concert.

4. (UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To beat with a stick.

Derived terms

• towel off
• towel up
• untoweled, untowelled

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “towel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Towle, owlet

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Middle English

Noun

towel

1. Alternative form of towayle