kaffiyeh

noun

kaf·​fi·​yeh

less common spelling of keffiyeh

: a checkered scarf traditionally worn as a head covering by some men in the Middle East

Yasser Arafat, who was the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, helped popularize the keffiyeh around the world by almost always wearing one in public.

—Abdallah Fayyad

Examples of kaffiyeh in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Yoni picked up the red-and-white kaffiyeh — a headscarf and symbol of Palestinian resistance — that the man dropped and tried to hand it back to him. — Michael Laris, Washington Post, 2 May 2026

That may be why a kaffiyeh on a graying woman in a small town in Germany can still signal defiance. — Thomas Meaney, New Yorker, 2 Feb. 2026

In another photograph, a man prostrates on the ground during prayer, the edge of his kaffiyeh grazing the soil beneath him in a gesture of devotion. — M. Z. Adnan, New Yorker, 20 July 2025

Many of her videos show a kaffiyeh, or Palestinian headscarf, hanging on the wall behind her desk. — Olivia Olander, Chicago Tribune, 12 May 2025

Most wore kaffiyeh scarves or other coverings obscuring their faces. — Philip Marcelo, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2025

The red kaffiyeh, for instance, is more popular in Jordan, suggests Kuraishi. — Solcyré Burga, TIME, 19 Sep. 2024