towel

towel

English

Etymology

From Middle English 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: touʹəl
• IPA^(key): /taʊl/, /taʊ.əl/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• 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 (năpăʾăpłăč̣̍) Afrikaans: handdoek Albanian: peshqir (sq) m Arabic: مَنْشَفَة‎ f (manšafa) Egyptian Arabic: فوطة‎ f (fūṭa) Hijazi Arabic: مِنْشَفة‎ f (minšafa) Armenian: սրբիչ (hy) (srbičʿ) Aromanian: prusopi f Asturian: toballa f, toalla f Azerbaijani: məhrəba, dəsmal (az) Bashkir: таҫтамал (taθtamal) Belarusian: ручні́к m (ručník), рушні́к m (rušník) Bengali: তোয়ালে (toyale) 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) 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) (sülgi) Khmer: កន្សែង (km) (kɑnsaeng) Korean: 타월 (tawol), 수건 (ko) (sugeon) Kurdish: Sorani: خاولی‎ (ku) (xawlî) Kyrgyz: сүлгү (ky) (sülgü), суулук (ky) (suuluk) Lao: ຂົນຫນູ (khon nū), ຜ້າເຊັດໂຕ (phā set tō), ຜ້າເຊັດ (phā set) Latin: mantēle Latvian: dvielis m

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 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. (Britain, dialectal, obsolete, transitive) To beat with a stick.

Derived terms

• untoweled, untowelled
• towel off
• towel up

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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

• Towle, owlet