handkerchief
Americannoun
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handkerchiefs
plural
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a small piece of linen, silk, or other fabric, usually square, and used especially for wiping one's nose, eyes, face, etc., or for decorative purposes.
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a neckerchief or kerchief.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of handkerchief
Explanation
A handkerchief is a square of fabric that you can use to blow your nose. You can also tuck a handkerchief in the breast pocket of a suit, or wear it tied jauntily around your neck. You can call a handkerchief a "hanky," or just a kerchief, although this more often means "a square piece of cloth worn as a head covering." This last part of handkerchief comes from the Old French couvrechief, literally meaning "cover head," from couvrir, "cover," and chief, "head." So a handkerchief is a similar cloth held in the hand — to mop your brow or wipe your eyes.
Vocabulary lists containing handkerchief
Commonly Misspelled Words, List 4
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Shiloh
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"Growing Together" and "When I Grow Up"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His repeated attempts to flex expensive restaurant bills and hardman tough talk land like a waterlogged handkerchief after he’s spent song after song cataloging all the specific ways we’ve all hurt his feelings.
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
Afterwards Nawat appeared at a press conference wearing a tuxedo and openly weeping as he theatrically dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief, claiming he had been "betrayed".
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2025
Mr. Pärt has referred to music as “the handkerchief for drying my tears of sadness, the source of my tears of joy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
At one point, while giving his evidence, he became emotional while looking at photos and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2025
She grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and started wiping Rosie’s face.
From "I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919" by Lauren Tarshis
The insider further revealed that the lovers spent 20 minutes exchanging their handwritten vows, and that they handed out custom handkerchiefs, embroidered with a “TT” and lyrics from Swift’s 2014 song “Blank Space.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026
Decades ago, the air was so polluted that her children wore handkerchiefs over their mouths when they went to school.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
Henry VIII, who reigned from 1509 to 1547, went through wives like handkerchiefs, in the process breaking with Rome and sparking the English Reformation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
Once there, the players frantically waved white table handkerchiefs above their heads to a live rendition of Freed From Desire expertly played by the in-house saxophonist.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2025
These, as they received their food, took it away into a corner, spread handkerchiefs over their striped trousers and began to eat.
From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
