- towel
[towel 词源字典] - towel: [13] A towel is etymologically something for ‘washing’ with. The word comes from Old French toaille, which was a borrowing from prehistoric Germanic *thwakhliō. This was derived from the verb *thwakhan ‘wash’, whose modern descendants include Swedish tvätta and Danish tvætte ‘wash’. Another relative is Swedish tvål ‘soap’.
[towel etymology, towel origin, 英语词源] - towel (n.)
- mid-13c., from Old French toaille (12c.), from Frankish *thwahlja, from Proto-Germanic *thwahlijan (cognates: Old Saxon thwahila, Middle Dutch dwale "towel," Dutch dwaal "altar cloth," Old High German dwehila "towel," German dialectal Zwehle "napkin"); related to German zwagen, Old English þwean "to wash." Spanish toalla, Italian tovaglia are Germanic loan-words. To throw in the towel "admit defeat" (1915) is from boxing.
- towel (v.)
- 1836 (transitive); 1861 (intransitive), from towel (n.). Related: Towelled; towelling.
