towel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtaʊ.əl/, /taʊl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English towaille, borrowed from Old French toaille (modern French touaille),^[2][3][4][5] from Frankish *thwahlja or another Germanic source,^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *thwahlijan,^[3] related to Old Saxon thwahila (“towel”), Middle Dutch dwale, Old High German dwahila, Dutch dwaal (“altar cloth”) and the dialect word German Zwehle (“napkin”).^[2][3][4] It goes back to a verb meaning to wash, as in Old English þwēan (“to wash”).^[2][3][4] Spanish toalla and Italian tovaglia are Germanic loanwords too.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cloth for wiping something dry: about 1250 in Barnhart, the mid-13th century in Etymonline, about 1284 in the OED.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

A cloth used at communion is also from about 1284, and a cloth worn as a head-dress or girdle from before 1366, now obsolete.^[6] The Middle English Dictionary lists 27 spellings of the singular, and the modern spelling emerged about 1400.^[3] To rub someone with an oaken towel was an old way of saying to beat with a cudgel.^[3] The verb, to wipe with a towel, is from 1836 in Etymonline, about 1839 in Merriam-Webster.^[3][5] The towel rack is from 1877,^[3] and to throw in the towel, to admit defeat, began in boxing (1915).^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – a towel.^[2]
• c. 1284 – a communion cloth.^[6]
• c. 1400 – the spelling towel.^[3]
• 1836 – to towel (verb).^[3]
• 1877 – towel rack.^[3]
• 1915 – to throw in the towel.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A piece of absorbent cloth or paper for drying the body.
2. A similar cloth for drying dishes.
3. throw in the towel: to admit defeat.

Verb

1. To dry or wipe with a towel.
2. (Australian slang) To beat someone up, often with up.

Word family

• dishtowel
• towelette
• toweling
• bath towel
• beach towel
• roller towel
• sanitary towel
• tea towel

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press