kerchief
UK/ˈkɜː.tʃɪf//ˈkɝ.t͡ʃɪf/
kerchief noun: a piece of cloth used to cover the head; a bandana.
Noun
kerchief (plural kerchiefs or kerchieves)
- A piece of cloth used to cover the head; a bandana.
- And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, / Had just settled down for a long winter's nap […]1823, Clement Clark Moore, The Night Before Christmas
- “Well, did you find some?” she asked from under the white kerchief, turning her handsome, gently smiling face to him.1901 [1878], chapter 5, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 6
Verb
kerchief (third-person singular simple present kerchiefs, present participle kerchiefing, simple past and past participle kerchiefed)
- To cover with a kerchief.
kerchief meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Kannada and Arabic
kerchief in Tamil
- kerchief, towel, small strip of cloth
- குட்டை kuṭṭai
kerchief in Urdu
- kerchief
- لچک lacak
kerchief in Kannada
- ಕಯ್ವಟ್ಟೆ
kerchief in Arabic
- piece of cloth
- غِفَارَة ḡifāra, لِفَاع lifāʕ
More languagesFewer languages
- kerchief in Persian
- روسری rusari, رویمال ruymâl, لچک lačak
Forms of kerchief
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | kerchiefs |
| plural | kerchieves |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | kerchiefs |
| present participle | kerchiefing |
| past participle | kerchiefed |
| past | kerchiefed |
Origin of kerchief
From Middle English keverchef, coverchef et al., from Old French couvrechief, from couvrir (“to cover”) + chief (“head”). Compare curfew.
Words formed from kerchief
Phrases with kerchief
Questions about kerchief
- What does kerchief mean?
- Kerchief means a piece of cloth used to cover the head; a bandana.
- What is kerchief in Tamil?
- Kerchief in Tamil is குட்டை (kuṭṭai). See Kerchief meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is kerchief?
- Kerchief can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce kerchief?
- Kerchief is pronounced /ˈkɝ.t͡ʃɪf/ (US).
- What is the plural of kerchief?
- The plural of kerchief is kerchiefs.
Words near kerchief in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kerchief (page history and authors); குட்டை (Tamil) (page history and authors); لچک (Urdu) (page history and authors); kerchief (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: en-us-kerchief.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kerchief.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kerchief. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.