handkerchief
Syllables: hand·ker·chief/ˈhæŋkɚt͡ʃəf//ˈhæŋkəːt͡ʃɪf/
handkerchief noun: a piece of cloth, usually square and often fine and elegant, carried for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands.
Noun
handkerchief (plural handkerchiefs or handkerchieves)
- A piece of cloth, usually square and often fine and elegant, carried for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands.
- He sneezed into his handkerchief during the meeting.
- Mr. Banks’ panama hat was in one hand, while the other drew a handkerchief across his perspiring brow.1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
- Synonyms:
- hanky, pocket handkerchief
- A piece of cloth shaped like a handkerchief to be worn about the neck; a neckerchief or neckcloth.
handkerchief meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
handkerchief in Hindi
- cloth for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands
- रूमाल rūmāl
handkerchief in Tamil
- cloth for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands
- கைக்குட்டை kaikkuṭṭai
handkerchief in Marathi
- cloth for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands
- रुमाल rumāl
handkerchief in Urdu
- cloth for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands
- رُومال rūmāl, دَسْت مال dast māl
More languagesFewer languages
- handkerchief in Bengali
- রুমাল rumal
- handkerchief in Telugu
- రుమాలు rumālu
- handkerchief in Malayalam
- ഉറുമാൽ uṟumāl
- handkerchief in Kannada
- ಕಯ್ಬಟ್ಟೆ
- handkerchief in Punjabi
- ਰੁਮਾਲ rumāl
- handkerchief in Gujarati
- હાથરૂમાલ hāthrūmāl, રૂમાલ rūmāl
- handkerchief in Odia
- ରୁମାଲ୍ rumāl
- handkerchief in Sanskrit
- करवस्त्र karavastra
- handkerchief in Assamese
- ৰুমাল rumal
- handkerchief in Nepali
- हातको रूमाल
- handkerchief in Pashto
- دستمال dastmāl, دسمال dəsmāl
- handkerchief in Tagalog
- panyo, panyolito
- handkerchief in Arabic
- مِنْدِيل mindīl, مَحْرَمَة maḥrama
- handkerchief in Malay
- sapu tangan
- handkerchief in Indonesian
- saputangan, kacu, selampai
- handkerchief in Thai
- ผ้าเช็ดหน้า pâa-chét-nâa
- handkerchief in Vietnamese
- khăn tay, mùi soa, mu-xoa
- handkerchief in Myanmar
- လက်ကိုင်ပဝါ lakkuingpa.wa
Examples of handkerchief in a sentence
- Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief.
- Her dad heard her sniffling and passed her a handkerchief.
- You're barely breaking even with the snotters stealing handkerchiefs in the square.
Synonyms of handkerchief
Forms of handkerchief
| plural | handkerchiefs |
|---|---|
| plural | handkerchieves |
| alternative form (obsolete) | handkercher |
Origin of handkerchief
From hand + kerchief.
Words formed from handkerchief
Phrases with handkerchief
Questions about handkerchief
- What does handkerchief mean?
- Handkerchief means a piece of cloth, usually square and often fine and elegant, carried for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands.
- What is handkerchief in Hindi?
- Handkerchief in Hindi is रूमाल (rūmāl). See Handkerchief meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is handkerchief?
- Handkerchief is a noun.
- How do you pronounce handkerchief?
- Handkerchief is pronounced /ˈhæŋkəːt͡ʃɪf/ (UK).
- What is the plural of handkerchief?
- The plural of handkerchief is handkerchiefs.
Words near handkerchief in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: handkerchief (page history and authors); రుమాలు (Telugu) (page history and authors); ഉറുമാൽ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); handkerchief (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਰੁਮਾਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); રૂમાલ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ରୁମାଲ୍ (Odia) (page history and authors); करवस्त्र (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); handkerchief (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-handkerchief.ogg, En-us-handkerchief.ogg.
Cite this entry: “handkerchief.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handkerchief. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.