napkin

noun
🔊/ˈnæpkɪn/
🔊/ˈnæpkɪn/
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  1. (also table napkin)
    a piece of cloth or paper used at meals for protecting your clothes and cleaning your lips and fingers餐巾;餐巾纸
    synonym serviette
    • He tucked his napkin under his chin.他把餐巾掖到下巴底下。
    • She dabbed her mouth with her table napkin.她用餐巾轻轻擦了擦嘴。
    • a napkin ring (= for holding a napkin when it is not in use) made of silver银制餐巾环
    Topics Cooking and eatingc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • folded
    • table
    • cloth
    verb + napkin
    • fold
    • unfold
    • tuck
    napkin + noun
    • holder
    • ring
    See full entry
  2. (also sanitary napkin (both North American English))
    (also sanitary pad British and North American English)
    (British English also sanitary towel)
    a thick piece of soft material that a woman wears between her legs to hold blood during her period
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • folded
    • table
    • cloth
    verb + napkin
    • fold
    • unfold
    • tuck
    napkin + noun
    • holder
    • ring
    See full entry
  3. (British English, old-fashioned or formal) a nappy (= a piece of soft cloth or other thick material that is folded around a baby’s bottom and between its legs to take in and hold its body waste)
  4. Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French nappe ‘tablecloth’ (from Latin mappa ‘sheet, napkin’) + -kin.