kaffiyeh

noun

kaf·​fi·​yeh kə-ˈfē-ə How to pronounce kaffiyeh (audio)
variants or less commonly keffiyeh
: an Arab headdress consisting of a square of cloth folded to form a triangle and held on by a cord

Examples of kaffiyeh in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Many wore kaffiyeh scarves, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, and shouted for Paxson and school administrators to divest the university's endowment from companies affiliated with Israel. Kaetlyn Liddy, NBC News, 29 Nov. 2023 Sitting on a boulder and wearing a purple robe and a red and white kaffiyeh as a hijab, the cousin looked over at a nook, the smallest of the three areas of the cave. Raja Abdulrahim, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Oct. 2022 Our driver wore a traditional dishdasha, a long white robe, with a red-and-white scarf, the traditional kaffiyeh, atop his head. Amanda Orr, Washington Post, 6 Dec. 2019 So migration is a natural theme, pondered by such works as Khaled Barakeh’s combination of a life jacket and a kaffiyeh (a traditional scarf) and Said Baalbaki’s painting of a stack of suitcases. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 1 Nov. 2019 The blind former rebel chieftain, wearing his trademark kaffiyeh scarf, took the oath in a no-frills ceremony in a small office in the congress building. Kejal Vyas, WSJ, 11 June 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'kaffiyeh.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Arabic kūfīya, kaffīya, from al-Kufa Al-Kufa, town in Iraq

First Known Use

circa 1817, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of kaffiyeh was circa 1817

Dictionary Entries Near kaffiyeh

Cite this Entry

“Kaffiyeh.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kaffiyeh. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

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