towel

A2 Topic:The Human Body

Also spelled tèaul

US /ˈtaʊəl/ UK /ˈtaʊ̯əl/ See IPA manual

Freq #4266

Meanings

1

noun
A piece of cloth used for drying something wet, such as your body or hands.

He grabbed a towel to dry himself after the shower.
2

verb
To dry something with a towel.

He got out of the shower and towelled himself dry.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms toweledtowelingtowelledtowellingtowels

Derived forms untoweleduntowelled

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

beach towel
a large towel used for drying off or lying on at the beach

Noun + noun

Idioms (1)

See all

throw in the towel
To give up or admit defeat.

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”).

towayle Middle English toaille Old French toallia la-med *þwahilu frk *þwahaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

The Human Body

External links

# towel

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈtaʊəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtaʊ̯əl/
**Frequency rank:** 4266

## Meanings
1. A piece of cloth used for drying something wet, such as your body or hands.
2. To dry something with a towel.

## Examples
- He grabbed a towel to dry himself after the shower.
- He got out of the shower and towelled himself dry.

## Derived Forms
- untoweled
- untowelled

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: towayle
- Root: toaille
- Root: toallia
- Root: *þwahilu
- Root: *þwahaną

## 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”).

## AI Etymology
Towel is 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”). In present-day use, it can mean a piece of cloth used for drying something wet, such as your body or hands, or to dry something with a towel.

## Topics
- The Human Body

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