kerchief

English

Etymology

From Middle English keverchef, coverchef et al., from Old French couvrechief, from couvrir (“to cover”) + chief (“head”). Compare curfew.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɝ.t͡ʃɪf/, /ˈkɝ.t͡ʃif/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɜː.tʃɪf/, /ˈkɜː.tʃiːf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

kerchief (plural kerchiefs or kerchieves)

1. (dated) A piece of cloth used to cover the head; a bandana.
   • 1823, Clement Clark Moore, The Night Before Christmas:

     And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, / Had just settled down for a long winter's nap […]

   • 1901 [1878], chapter 5, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina‎^[1], translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 6:

     “Well, did you find some?” she asked from under the white kerchief, turning her handsome, gently smiling face to him.

Derived terms

• display kerchief
• handkerchief
• headkerchief
• kerchiefed
• kerchieflike
• neckerchief

Translations

piece of cloth

• Arabic: غِفَارَة f (ḡifāra), لِفَاع m (lifāʕ)
• Armenian: թաշկինակ (hy) (tʻaškinak), գլխաշոր (hy) (glxašor)
• Bashkir: яулыҡ (yawlıq)
• Belarusian: ху́стка f (xústka)
• Bulgarian: забрадка (bg) f (zabradka)
• Catalan: mocador (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 頭巾 / 头巾 (zh) (tóujīn)

• Chuvash: тутӑр (tut̬ăr)
• Czech: šátek (cs) m
• Dutch: hoofddoek (nl), sluier (nl)
• Esperanto: kaptuko sg
• Finnish: huivi (fi)
• French: foulard (fr) m, fichu (fr) m
• Galician: pano da cabeza f, pano (gl) m
• Georgian: თავსაფარი (ka) (tavsapari), თავშალი (tavšali), ხილაბანდი (xilabandi)
• German: Kopftuch (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌹 n (aurali)
• Hausa: mayani
• Hungarian: kendő (hu)
• Irish: bréidín m, brat cinn m, cafarr m, ciarsúr (ga) m
• Italian: bandana (it) f, fascia (it) f
• Japanese: 頭巾 (ja) (ずきん, zukin)
• Korean: 두건 (ko) (dugeon)
• Macedonian: ма́рама (mk) f (márama)
• Middle English: keverchef, kevercher
• Norwegian: tørkle
• Ojibwe: moshwe
• Persian: روسری (fa) (rusari), رویمال (ruymâl), لچک (fa) (lačak)
• Polish: chustka (pl) f
• Portuguese: lenço (pt) m, bandana f
• Romanian: batic (ro) n, basma (ro) f, năframă (ro) f, maramă (ro) f
• Russian: плато́к (ru) m (platók), плато́чек (ru) m (platóček), косы́нка (ru) f (kosýnka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: марама f

  Latin: marama (sh) f

• Spanish: toca (es) f, toquilla f
• Sranan Tongo: angisa
• Swedish: sjalett (sv) c, huvudduk (sv) c
• Tajik: рӯймол (rüymol), рӯмол (rümol)
• Tatar: яулык (tt) (yawlıq)
• Turkish: başörtüsü (tr)
• Ukrainian: ху́стка f (xústka)
• Welsh: penllïain m
• Yiddish: טיכל n (tikhl), פֿאַטשיילע f (fatsheyle)

Verb

kerchief (third-person singular simple present kerchiefs, present participle kerchiefing, simple past and past participle kerchiefed)

1. (dated, transitive) To cover with a kerchief.

Anagrams

• heckfire