napkin
13
1.1
- noun
- /ˈnæpkɪn/
- Archaic
:
pañal
- The baby wore a cloth napkin during lunch to catch any spills.
Examples
-
Martin's household was "green"; organic discards for their garden, washable cloth napkins instead of forest-consuming paper towels.
Fiction book (1996) -
Lucy half-smiles and unconsciously begins to fold one of the Denny's napkins into an origami bird.
Fiction book (2001) -
"The napkin should not be fastened at the neck.
-
Her mother always chose red and then smoothed the heavy linen napkin across her lap, beaming across the table.
Fiction book (2000) -
We've been using washcloths as napkins since our daughter was born 2 years ago.
Blog text (10) -
A box of donuts came out next, along with two plastic coffee cups and two pale pink linen napkins.
Fiction book (1996) -
Marilyn helped Irene to her feet and, with a wetted table napkin, wiped away the blood that had been coming out of her nose.
Academic text (2009) -
Anna had brought cloth napkins—and he bent to wipe my daughter's.
Fiction book (1996) -
Please fasten your napkin securely around your waist before feeding the infant.
-
When changing the baby, make sure to have a clean napkin ready to catch any mess.
Synonyms
310
1.0
Soft absorbent cloth or paper fastened around a baby's waist and between the legs to hold pee and poo
16
3.7
A soft cloth put around a baby's bottom to hold pee and poo
Compounds
1
1.0
A large piece of cloth or paper people use at dinner to protect clothes and wipe the mouth and hands
How Absorbent
- Archaic
13
1.1
- US
3
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word napkin comes from the old French word nappe meaning 'tablecloth' and the small ending -kin meaning 'little'. A helpful way to remember the baby sense is that it once meant a 'little cloth', so people used these small cloths fastened around babies to catch messes.