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 Cyrus Mayer, a 29-year-old Ojai resident and landscaper, burst into the room wearing a kaffiyeh head scarf and coated in fake blood. Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024 The kaffiyeh is a traditional Arab headdress that has come to symbolize solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Leo Sands, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2024 Esperanza Spalding showed her support for Palestine as well by wearing a kaffiyeh. Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 5 Feb. 2024 At the time, Prashar—who is Punjabi—wore a kaffiyeh around his neck. Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 30 Jan. 2024 Symbols including the Star of David necklace and the kaffiyeh scarf have been embraced beyond the Middle East as a way of showing support for Jews and Palestinians during the war. Callie Holtermann, New York Times, 27 Dec. 2023 The patriarch, for the first time, wore a black-and-white kaffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, around his neck, atop his red robes. Sufian Taha, Washington Post, 24 Dec. 2023 On October 7th, after Hamas attacked Israel, Hunter’s Palestine Solidarity Alliance posted an image of bulldozers breaking through the Gaza fence, overlaid with a cartoon of a person wearing a kaffiyeh over their mouth and nose. Emma Green, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2023 Over the course of the 20th century, the kaffiyeh grew in prominence. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2023

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 28 Mar. 2024.

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