Facecloth

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small piece of fabric used for washing the face or body
2. A cloth, usually small, meant for cleansing the skin by wiping or scrubbing
3. A soft cloth designed to clean or refresh the face or other parts of the body

Etymology: A facecloth is about as transparent a compound as English offers: a small cloth used for washing the face, built from "face" and "cloth." Neither part has shifted far from its everyday sense, so the word's interest lies mostly in how plainly it was assembled from two ordinary nouns. The compound follows a common English pattern in which a noun modifies another noun to name the purpose or place of an object, as in "tablecloth" or "washcloth." Here "face" tells you where the cloth goes, and "cloth" names the material and the general kind of object. The word's meaning therefore depends on the same logic that makes "dishcloth" or "handkerchief" transparent to speakers.

Synonyms: washcloth, face towel