Advertisement
Entries linking to towelette
towel (n.)mid-13c., from Old French toaille (12c.), from Frankish *thwahlja, from Proto-Germanic *thwahlijan (source also of 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.
-ette diminutive word-forming element, from Old French -ette (fem.), used indiscriminately in Old French with masculine form -et (see -et). As a general rule, older words borrowed from French have -et in English, while ones taken in since 17c. have -ette. In use with native words since late 19c., especially among persons who coin new product names, who tend to give it a sense of "imitation, a sort of" (for example flannelette "imitation flannel of cotton," 1876; leatherette, 1855; linenette, 1894). Also in such words as lecturette (1867), sermonette, which, OED remarks, "can scarcely be said to be in good use, though often met with in newspapers."
Share towelette
‘cite’
Page URL:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/towelette
HTML Link:
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/towelette">Etymology of towelette by etymonline</a>
APA style:
Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of towelette. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/towelette
Chicago style:
Harper Douglas, “Etymology of towelette,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/towelette.
MLA style:
Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of towelette.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/towelette. Accessed $(datetimeMla).
IEEE style:
D. Harper. “Etymology of towelette.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/towelette (accessed $(datetime)).
Advertisement