Standard Lemma guide

towel

noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtaʊ̯əl/
  • Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: [ˈthaʊ̯l̩]
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈtæʊ̯əl/ Southern US, Midland US, Mid-Atlantic US, New York City, Australian, New Zealand
  • [ˈtæʊ̯l̩] Southern US, Midland US, Mid-Atlantic US, New York City, Australian, New Zealand
  • /ˈtaːəl/ Pittsburgh, General South African, /aʊ̯/-monophthongization
  • [ˈthaːl̩] Pittsburgh, General South African, /aʊ̯/-monophthongization
  • rhymes with -aʊl
  • rhymes with -aʊəl
  • CMU ARPABET: T AW1 AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: T AW1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • He needed a towel for wiping the slippery floor.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To dry by using a towel.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To hit with a towel.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To block up (a door, etc.) with a towel, to conceal the fumes of a recreational drug.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, dialectal, obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

a rectangular piece of absorbent cloth (or paper) for drying or wiping

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: piece of cloth, piece of material

Narrower terms: bath towel, beach towel, dishtowel, dish towel, tea towel, hand towel, face towel, paper towel, roller towel

7

verb

Meaning 7

wipe with a towel

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • towel your hair dry

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: wipe, pass over

History

Etymology

From Middle English towayle, towel, towail, towaille, from Old French toaille (“towel”) (modern French touaille), Medieval Latin toallia, from Frankish *þwahilu (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *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”).

Across languages

Translations

203 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: handdoek — cloth used for wiping
  • Albanian: peshqir — cloth used for wiping
  • Albanian: havlli — cloth used for wiping
  • Arabic: مِنْشَفَة (minšafa) — cloth used for wiping
  • Arabic: فوطة (fūṭa) — cloth used for wiping
  • Arabic: فوطة (fūṭa) — cloth used for wiping
  • Arabic: مِنْشَفة (minšafa) — cloth used for wiping
  • Armenian: սրբիչ (srbičʻ) — cloth used for wiping
  • Aromanian: prusopi — cloth used for wiping
  • Asturian: toballa — cloth used for wiping
  • Asturian: toalla — cloth used for wiping
  • Azerbaijani: məhrəba — cloth used for wiping
  • Azerbaijani: dəsmal — cloth used for wiping
  • Bashkir: таҫтамал (taśtamal) — cloth used for wiping
  • Belarusian: ручні́к (ručník) — cloth used for wiping
  • Belarusian: рушні́к (rušník) — cloth used for wiping
  • Belarusian: уціра́льнік (ucirálʹnik) — cloth used for wiping
  • Bengali: তোয়ালে (tōẇale) — cloth used for wiping
  • Bhojpuri: तौलिया (tauliyā) — cloth used for wiping
  • Buginese: handu' — cloth used for wiping
  • Bulgarian: къ́рпа (kǎ́rpa) — cloth used for wiping
  • Bulgarian: пешки́р (peškír) — cloth used for wiping
  • Bulgarian: ръчени́к (rǎčeník) — cloth used for wiping
  • Burmese: မျက်နှာသုတ်ပဝါ (myakhnasutpa.wa) — cloth used for wiping
  • Catalan: tovallola — cloth used for wiping
  • Cebuano: toalya — cloth used for wiping
  • Chechen: гата (gata) — cloth used for wiping
  • Chinese Cantonese: 毛巾 (mou4 gan1) — cloth used for wiping
  • Chinese: шуҗин (šujin) — cloth used for wiping
  • Chinese: 毛巾 (mô͘-kin) — cloth used for wiping
  • Chinese Mandarin: 毛巾 (máojīn) — cloth used for wiping
  • Chinese Mandarin: 手巾 (shǒujīn) — cloth used for wiping
  • West Circassian: нэпэӏэплъэкӏ (nɛpɛʼɛplsɛkʼ) — cloth used for wiping
  • Crimean Tatar: yüzbez — cloth used for wiping
  • Crimean Tatar: testimal — cloth used for wiping
  • Crimean Tatar: avlu — cloth used for wiping
  • Czech: ručník — cloth used for wiping
  • Danish: håndklæde — cloth used for wiping
  • Danish: papir — cloth used for wiping
  • Danish: serviet — cloth used for wiping
  • Dutch: handdoek — cloth used for wiping
  • Elfdalian: andduk — cloth used for wiping
  • Esperanto: viŝilo — cloth used for wiping
  • Esperanto: mantuko — cloth used for wiping
  • Estonian: rätik — cloth used for wiping
  • Faroese: hondklæði — cloth used for wiping
  • Faroese: handklæði — cloth used for wiping
  • Finnish: pyyhe — cloth used for wiping
  • Finnish: pyyheliina — cloth used for wiping
  • French: serviette — cloth used for wiping
  • Galician: toalla — cloth used for wiping
  • Gallurese: maccrammè — cloth used for wiping
  • Gallurese: sciuamanu — cloth used for wiping
  • Georgian: პირსახოცი (ṗirsaxoci) — cloth used for wiping
  • German: Handtuch — cloth used for wiping
  • Greek: πετσέτα (petséta) — cloth used for wiping
  • Ancient Greek: χειρόμακτρον (kheirómaktron) — cloth used for wiping
  • Greenlandic: allarut — cloth used for wiping
  • Gujarati: ટુવાલ (ṭuvāl) — cloth used for wiping
  • Hebrew: מַגֶּבֶת (magévet) — cloth used for wiping
  • Hiligaynon: tualya — cloth used for wiping
  • Hindi: तौलिया (tauliyā) — cloth used for wiping
  • Hindi: अँगौछा (aṅgauchā) — cloth used for wiping
  • Hungarian: törülköző — cloth used for wiping
  • Icelandic: handklæði — cloth used for wiping
  • Ido: toalo — cloth used for wiping
  • Indonesian: handuk — cloth used for wiping
  • Ingrian: räpäkkä — cloth used for wiping
  • Ingush: гата (gata) — cloth used for wiping
  • Irish: tuáille — cloth used for wiping
  • Italian: asciugamano — cloth used for wiping
  • Japanese: タオル (taoru) — cloth used for wiping
  • Javanese: ꦲꦤ꧀ꦝꦸꦏ꧀ (andhuk) — cloth used for wiping
  • Javanese: andhuk — cloth used for wiping
  • Kannada: ಟವಲ್ (ṭaval) — cloth used for wiping
  • Kazakh: сүлгі (sülgı) — cloth used for wiping
  • Khmer: កន្សែង (kɑɑkɑnsaeng) — cloth used for wiping
  • Konkani: भैरासु (bhairāsu) — cloth used for wiping
  • Korean: 수건 (sugeon) — cloth used for wiping
  • Korean: 타월 (tawol) — cloth used for wiping
  • Central Kurdish: خاولی (xawlî) — cloth used for wiping
  • Northern Kurdish: pêşgîr — cloth used for wiping
  • Northern Kurdish: xawlî — cloth used for wiping
  • Kyrgyz: сүлгү (sülgü) — cloth used for wiping
  • Kyrgyz: суулук (suuluk) — cloth used for wiping
  • Lao: ຂົນຫນູ (khon nū) — cloth used for wiping
  • Lao: ຜ້າເຊັດໂຕ (phā set tō) — cloth used for wiping
  • Lao: ຜ້າເຊັດ (phā set) — cloth used for wiping
  • Latin: mantēle — cloth used for wiping
  • Latvian: dvielis — cloth used for wiping
  • Lithuanian: rankšluostis — cloth used for wiping
  • Low German: Dweel — cloth used for wiping
  • Low German: Handdook — cloth used for wiping
  • Lü: ᦕᦱᧉᦵᦋᧆᦐᦱᧉ (ṗhaa2tsedṅaa2) — cloth used for wiping
  • Luhya: etaulo — cloth used for wiping
  • Lun Bawang: anduk — cloth used for wiping
  • Lushootseed: ʔik̓wusəd — cloth used for wiping
  • Luxembourgish: Handduch — cloth used for wiping
  • Macedonian: пешкир (peškir) — cloth used for wiping
  • Macedonian: крпа (krpa) — cloth used for wiping
  • Macedonian: рачник (račnik) — cloth used for wiping
  • Malay: tuala — cloth used for wiping
  • Brunei Malay: tuala — cloth used for wiping
  • Malayalam: തൂവാല (tūvāla) — cloth used for wiping
  • Maltese: xugaman — cloth used for wiping
  • Manchu: ᡶᡠᠩᡴᡠ (fungku) — cloth used for wiping
  • Maranao: towaliya — cloth used for wiping
  • Middle English: towayle — cloth used for wiping
  • Mongolian: алчуур (alčuur) — cloth used for wiping
  • Mongolian: ᠠᠯᠴᠢᠭᠤᠷ (alčiɣur) — cloth used for wiping
  • Navajo: bee ádítʼoodí — cloth used for wiping
  • Navajo: bee ádítʼoodí yázhí — cloth used for wiping
  • Norman: sèrviette — cloth used for wiping
  • Norwegian Bokmål: håndkle — cloth used for wiping
  • Norwegian Bokmål: handkle — cloth used for wiping
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: handkle — cloth used for wiping
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: handklede — cloth used for wiping
  • Old East Slavic: ручьникъ (ručĭnikŭ) — cloth used for wiping
  • Old English: wæterclāþ — cloth used for wiping
  • Oromo: fooxaa — cloth used for wiping
  • Pashto: دست پاک (dast pãk) — cloth used for wiping
  • Pashto: دستمال (dastmãl) — cloth used for wiping
  • Pashto: توليا (tawlyã) — cloth used for wiping
  • Pashto: توليه (tawlyá) — cloth used for wiping
  • Dari: حَوْلَه (hawla) — cloth used for wiping
  • Dari: آبْچِین (ābčīn) — cloth used for wiping
  • Iranian Persian: حُوْلِه (howle) — cloth used for wiping
  • Iranian Persian: آبْچین (âbčin) — cloth used for wiping
  • Polish: ręcznik — cloth used for wiping
  • Portuguese: toalha — cloth used for wiping
  • Punjabi: ਤੌਲੀਆ (taulīā) — cloth used for wiping
  • Romanian: prosop — cloth used for wiping
  • Romansh: sientamauns — cloth used for wiping
  • Russian: полоте́нце (poloténce) — cloth used for wiping
  • Russian: рушни́к (rušník) — cloth used for wiping
  • Russian: ручни́к (ručník) — cloth used for wiping
  • Kildin-Sami: отеральнэһкь (ot’eral’nehk’) — cloth used for wiping
  • Northern Sami: sihkaldat — cloth used for wiping
  • Skolt-Sami: sekldõs — cloth used for wiping
  • Skolt-Sami: uʹtreeʹlniǩ — cloth used for wiping
  • Skolt-Sami: sekldõk — cloth used for wiping
  • Campidanese Sardinian: tialla de facci — cloth used for wiping
  • Campidanese Sardinian: tiallòra — cloth used for wiping
  • Sardinian: frobbidoryu — cloth used for wiping
  • Sardinian: frobbidorzu — cloth used for wiping
  • Scottish Gaelic: tubhailt — cloth used for wiping
  • Scottish Gaelic: searbhadair — cloth used for wiping
  • Serbo-Croatian: пѐшкӣр — cloth used for wiping
  • Serbo-Croatian: у̀брус — cloth used for wiping
  • Serbo-Croatian: ру̀чнӣк — cloth used for wiping
  • Serbo-Croatian: pèškīr — cloth used for wiping
  • Serbo-Croatian: ùbrus — cloth used for wiping
  • Serbo-Croatian: rùčnīk — cloth used for wiping
  • Sicilian: tuvagghia — cloth used for wiping
  • Sinhalese: තුවා (tuwā) — cloth used for wiping
  • Slovak: uterák — cloth used for wiping
  • Slovak: ručník — cloth used for wiping
  • Slovene: brisača — cloth used for wiping
  • Upper Sorbian: trjenje — cloth used for wiping
  • Spanish: toalla — cloth used for wiping
  • Spanish: toballa — cloth used for wiping
  • Spanish: tobaja — cloth used for wiping
  • Spanish: fazaleja — cloth used for wiping
  • Swahili: taulo — cloth used for wiping
  • Swedish: handduk — cloth used for wiping
  • Tabasaran: дасмал (dasmal) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tagalog: tuwalya — cloth used for wiping
  • Tajik: дастурӯпоккун (dasturüpokkun) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tajik: танпоккун (tanpokkun) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tajik: сачоқ (sačoq) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tamil: துவாலை (tuvālai) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tamil: துண்டு (tuṇṭu) — cloth used for wiping
  • Taos: tûoyoną — cloth used for wiping
  • Tatar: сөлге (sölge) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tausug: jimpaw — cloth used for wiping
  • Telugu: తువాలు (tuvālu) — cloth used for wiping
  • Thai: ผ้าขนหนู (pâa-kǒn-nǔu) — cloth used for wiping
  • Thai: ผ้าเช็ดตัว (pâa-chét-dtuua) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tibetan: ཨ་ཅོར (a cor) — cloth used for wiping
  • Tibetan: ཞལ་ཅོར (zhal cor) — cloth used for wiping
  • Turkish: havlu — cloth used for wiping
  • Turkish: peşkir — cloth used for wiping
  • Ottoman Turkish: دستار (destar) — cloth used for wiping
  • Turkmen: polotenste — cloth used for wiping
  • Turkmen: polotense — cloth used for wiping
  • Turkmen: polotensa — cloth used for wiping
  • Ukrainian: рушни́к (rušnýk) — cloth used for wiping
  • Ukrainian: утира́ч (utyráč) — cloth used for wiping
  • Urdu: تَولِیَہ (tauliya) — cloth used for wiping
  • Urdu: آبچِین (ābcīn) — cloth used for wiping
  • Urdu: اَن٘گوچھا (aṅgochā) — cloth used for wiping
  • Uyghur: لۆڭگە (löngge) — cloth used for wiping
  • Uzbek: sochiq — cloth used for wiping
  • Vietnamese: khăn — cloth used for wiping
  • Waray-Waray: tu-alya — cloth used for wiping
  • Welsh: tywel — cloth used for wiping
  • Xhosa: itawuli — cloth used for wiping
  • Yami: tenegey — cloth used for wiping
  • Yiddish: האַנטעך (hantekh) — cloth used for wiping
  • Zazaki: hewli — cloth used for wiping
  • Zazaki: abçin — cloth used for wiping
  • Zazaki: pésger — cloth used for wiping
  • Zazaki: holi — cloth used for wiping