Learn Arabic › B2 › مَنْدِيل
مَنْدِيل
handkerchief /manˈdiːl/
nounB2#3361 most common
Also: napkin, headscarf, towel
Example sentences
هذا منديلي.
This is my handkerchief.
خذ هذا المنديل وامسح يديك.
Take this handkerchief and wipe your hands.
نسيت منديلي في البيت فاضطررت لشراء واحد جديد.
I forgot my handkerchief at home, so I had to buy a new one.
كانت جدتي تطرز مناديلها بخيوط ملونة قبل أن تهديها للعرائس.
My grandmother used to embroider her handkerchiefs with colored thread before giving them to brides.
يُعد منديل عطيل في مسرحية شكسبير رمزاً للغيرة والشك الذي يقود إلى الكارثة.
Othello's handkerchief in Shakespeare's play stands for the jealousy and doubt that lead to disaster.
على الرغم من بساطته، تحوّل المنديل عبر التاريخ إلى رمز ثقافي يحمل دلالات متعددة، من الحداد إلى الزينة إلى الهوية الاجتماعية.
Despite its plainness, the handkerchief has turned, over history, into a cultural symbol with many meanings: mourning, adornment, and social identity.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | مِنْدِيلٌ | مَنَادِيلُ |
| Genitive | مِنْدِيلٍ | مَنَادِيلَ |
| Accusative | مِنْدِيلاً | مَنَادِيلَ |
| Vocative | مِنْدِيلُ | مَنَادِيلُ |
Word family
منديلhandkerchief (singular)
مناديلhandkerchiefs (plural)
منديل ورقيpaper tissue
ندلto snatch up, take by hand (rare classical verb linked by grammarians to this pattern)
Etymology
Arabic منديل is a loanword, not a native triliteral coinage. It traces back through Aramaic mandila to Greek mandylion or Latin mantēle, a cloth used for wiping the hands and face. Arabic grammarians later fit the word into the native noun pattern مِفْعِيل, treating it as if built from a root ن-د-ل, but this is a retrofit onto an already borrowed term. The same source word spread across the region, giving Turkish mendil and Persian mandil, and the Greek form mandylion is best known from the legend of the Image of Edessa.
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