handkerchiefyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[handkerchief 词源字典]
handkerchief: [16] Handkerchief is a compound formed from hand and the now obsolete kerchief ‘cloth for covering the head’ [13] (what in modern English would be called a head-scarf). This was acquired via Anglo-Norman courchef from Old French couvrechef, a compound of couvrir ‘cover’ and chief ‘head’. The colloquial abbreviation hanky is first recorded in the 1890s.
=> chef, chief, cover, hand, kerchief[handkerchief etymology, handkerchief origin, 英语词源]
handkerchief (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1520s, from hand + kerchief, originally "cloth for covering the head," but since Middle English used generally as "piece of cloth used about the person." A curious confluence of words for "hand" and "head." By-form handkercher was in use 16c.-19c. A dropped handkerchief as a token of flirtation or courtship is attested by mid-18c.