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]