kaffiyeh

1 of 2

noun (1)

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

keffiyeh

2 of 2

noun (2)

kef·​fi·​yeh kə-ˈfē-ə 

variants or less commonly kaffiyeh

: 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

Noun

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

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

Noun

His mother, 76-year-old Beth Burbank, is a longtime Quaker and came out to support the vigil, carrying a poster in hand and a checkered keffiyeh — a Middle Eastern scarf and a modern symbol of colonial resistance — around her neck. —Laura Turbay, Chicago Tribune, 21 Mar. 2026

The anti-Zionist group Kufiyas in Buchenwald announced a demonstration at Buchenwald on April 11, the anniversary of its liberation, in protest against a German court’s decision that the site could refuse entry to visitors who wear a Palestinian keffiyeh. —Shira Li Bartov, Sun Sentinel, 9 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (2)

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

First Known Use

Noun (2)

1831, in the meaning defined above