dinner napkin
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- noun
- /ˈdɪnər ˈnæpkɪn/
:
servilleta
- He neatly placed the dinner napkin on his lap before starting the meal.
- fold the dinner napkin
And then I grabbed one of the dinner napkins and I started writing down.
- And then I grabbed one of the dinner napkins and I started writing down.
Examples
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The waiter offered a crisp, folded dinner napkin to each guest at the table.
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Also, you... do you know you have, like, three dinner napkins on your back?
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And then I grabbed one of the dinner napkins and I started writing down.
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His eyes got red and he kept dribbling all over his dinner napkin.
Fiction book (1999) -
Reverend Doctor is complete with his handkerchief, a large one made of thick cotton, as large as a dinner napkin.
Fiction book (1991) -
She accidentally spilled some sauce on her dinner napkin while eating pasta.
Synonyms
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A small piece of cloth or paper used at meals to wipe the mouth and hands
A small piece of cloth or paper used at meals to wipe your mouth and hands
How Big
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1
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Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'napkin' (a small cloth or paper used to wipe hands/mouth) modified by 'dinner' (the meal) yields a napkin specifically used at dinner. This noun–noun compound follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The noun dinner napkin comes from the simple idea of a small cloth used at the table. People would place a napkin on their lap to wipe their hands and protect their clothes, so a dinner napkin today means the cloth you use while eating.