Word.ws English Dictionary

hanky

Syllables: han·ki/ˈhæŋki//ˈheɪ̯ŋki/

hanky is the diminutive of handkerchief.

Meaning of handkerchief

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.
    • He sneezed into his handkerchief during the meeting.
  2. A piece of cloth shaped like a handkerchief to be worn about the neck; a neckerchief or neckcloth.

Forms of hanky

pluralhankies
alternative uncommonhankie

Words formed from hanky

Phrases with hanky

Words that rhyme with hanky

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about hanky

What is hanky the diminutive of?
Hanky is the diminutive of handkerchief.
How do you pronounce hanky?
Hanky is pronounced /ˈhæŋki/.

Words near hanky in the dictionary

  1. Hankow
  2. hanks
  3. hanksite
  4. hankty
  5. Hankul
  6. hanky
  7. hanky code
  8. hanky codes
  9. hanky pankies
  10. hanky panky
  11. hanky-pank

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hanky (page history and authors); handkerchief (page history and authors). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hankie.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hanky.wav.

Cite this entry: “hanky.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hanky. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.