Neckercheve

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A square or triangular piece of cloth worn tied around the neck, often for warmth or decoration
2. A scarf-like cloth fastened loosely about the throat, sometimes knotted at the front or back
3. Lightweight fabric folded and worn around the neck as an accessory or to protect against the cold

Etymology: Neckercheve is a rare Middle English word for a cloth worn around the neck, and it is a compound built from two plain parts: "neck" and "kerchief" (from Old French "covrechief," meaning "cover the head"). The second element is the more surprising one, because a kerchief was originally a head covering, not a neck cloth. Its literal sense was "covering for the head," and the word moved from head to neck as fashions changed. The compound itself is an English formation, so the new word was made by joining existing English words rather than borrowed whole. Its surviving record is thin, and it was never a common term, so later writers mostly used "neckerchief" or "neckcloth" instead. The spelling "neckercheve" shows the older, more French-influenced form of "kerchief" before the modern spelling settled in.