Standard Lemma guide

washcloth

noun · 2 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈwɒʃ.klɒθ/
  • General-American: /ˈwɔʃ.klɔθ/
  • General-American: /ˈwɑʃ.-/
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈwɑʃ.klɑθ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: W AA1 SH K L AO2 TH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A small cloth used to wash the face and body.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: washrag, face cloth, face washer, flannel

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cloth, rag

2

noun

Meaning 2

bath linen consisting of a piece of cloth used to wash the face and body

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: washrag, flannel, face cloth

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bath linen

History

Etymology

From wash + cloth.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مِمْسَح (mimsaḥ) — cloth used to wash
  • Belarusian: вяхотка (vjaxótka) — cloth used to wash
  • Belarusian: мачалка (mačalka) — cloth used to wash
  • Bulgarian: кесе (kese) — cloth used to wash
  • Bulgarian: къ́рпа за лице́ (kǎ́rpa za licé) — cloth used to wash
  • Catalan: manyopla — cloth used to wash
  • Catalan: rentacares — cloth used to wash
  • Chinese Mandarin: 面巾 (miànjīn) — cloth used to wash
  • Czech: žínka — cloth used to wash
  • Danish: vaskeklud — cloth used to wash
  • Dutch: waslap — cloth used to wash
  • Dutch: washand — cloth used to wash
  • Dutch: washandje — cloth used to wash
  • Esperanto: lavtuko — cloth used to wash
  • Faroese: eygnalappi — cloth used to wash
  • Faroese: lappi — cloth used to wash
  • Finnish: pesulappu — cloth used to wash
  • French: gant de toilette — cloth used to wash
  • German: Waschlappen — cloth used to wash
  • Hungarian: porrongy — cloth used to wash
  • Indonesian: waslap — cloth used to wash
  • Japanese: ハンドタオル (hando taoru) — cloth used to wash
  • Māori: horoi — cloth used to wash
  • Norwegian Bokmål: vaskeklut — cloth used to wash
  • Persian: لیف (lif) — cloth used to wash
  • Polish: myjka — cloth used to wash
  • Portuguese: flanela — cloth used to wash
  • Russian: мочалка (močalka) — cloth used to wash
  • Northern Sami: basaldat — cloth used to wash
  • Scottish Gaelic: flanainn — cloth used to wash
  • Spanish: toallita — cloth used to wash