Napkin
piece of cloth or paper used to wipe one's face or skin while eating
A napkin, serviette or face towelette is a square of cloth or paper tissue used at the table for wiping of the mouth and fingers while eating. It is also sometimes used as a bib by tucking it into a shirt collar. It is usually small and folded, sometimes in intricate designs, colors, and shapes.
Etymology and terminology
The term 'napkin' dates back to the 14th century, referring to a cloth or paper item used during meals for wiping of the lips and fingers, additionally safeguarding clothing from collecting stains. The word derives from the Late Middle English nappekin, from Old French nappe (tablecloth, from Latin mappa), with the suffix -kin.
A 'napkin' can also be referred to as a small cloth or towel, such as a handkerchief in dialectal British, or a kerchief in Scotland.
'Napkin' could also be an abbreviation for "sanitary napkin".
Description
Conventionally, the napkin is folded and placed to the left of the place setting, outside the outermost fork. In a restaurant setting or a caterer's hall, it may be folded into more elaborate shapes and displayed on the empty plate. Origami techniques can be used to create a three-dimensional design.
The public source identifies “Napkin” as piece of cloth or paper used to wipe one's face or skin while eating. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Napkin, piece and cloth.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q848532. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Napkin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.