doek

Borrowed from Afrikaans doek (“cloth”), from Dutch doek, from Middle Dutch doec, from Old Dutch *duok, from Proto-West Germanic *dōk, from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz. Doublet of duck.

doek (plural doeke or doeks)

1. (South Africa) A cloth. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. (South Africa) A kopdoek: a kerchief or bandanna worn as a head covering.

   Hypernym: headwrap

   • 1965, Doris Lessing, Landlocked, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 227:

     He said: “What have you got that filthy doek on your head for?”

   • 1982, Can Themba, The Will to Die,^[1]

     "Mama, how about a doek for Janet?"
     The doek! God save our gracious doek! A doek is a colourful piece of cloth that the African woman wears as headgear. It is tied stylistically into various shapes from Accra to Cape Town. I do not know the history of this innocuous piece of cloth. In Afrikans, the language of those of our white masters who are of Dutch and Huguenot descent, doek meant, variously, a tablecloth, a dirty rag, or a symbol of the slave. Perhaps it was later used by African women in contact with European ideas of beauty who realised that 'they had no hair' and subconsciously hid their heads under the doek. Whatever else, the doek had come to designate the African woman. So that evening when I said, 'Mama, how about a doek for Janet', I was proposing to transform her, despite her colour and her deep blue eyes, into an African woman for the while.

• Doke, OKed, doke

From Dutch doek, from Middle Dutch doec, from Old Dutch *duok, from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz.

• IPA^(key): /duk/

doek (plural doeke)

1. cloth, fabric
2. canvas

• kopdoek

• → English: doek
• → Shona: dhuku

From Middle Dutch doec, from Old Dutch *duok, from Proto-West Germanic *dōk, from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz.

• IPA^(key): /duk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: doek
• Rhymes: -uk

doek m or n (plural doeken, diminutive doekje n)

1. cloth, linen, fabric

doek m (plural doeken, diminutive doekje n)

1. a piece of cloth

doek n (plural doeken, diminutive doekje n)

1. screen, curtain (at the theater)
2. canvas
3. painting on canvas

• (piece of cloth): lap

• doekoe

• Afrikaans: doek
  • → English: doek
  • → Shona: dhuku
• Berbice Creole Dutch: duku
• Jersey Dutch: duk
• Negerhollands: doek, doekoe
• → Akan: duku
  • → Nkonya: duku
  • → Wali (Ghana): ’duuku
• → Akebu: ɖuku-yǝ (via an intermediary language)
• → Lokono: doko
• → Aukan: duku
• → English: duck, dook
• → Fon: dukwí
• → Indonesian: duk
• → Japanese: ズック
• → Mbelime: dukìhṵ̀ (via an intermediary language)
• → Nawdm: dukŋa (via an intermediary language)
• → Scots: dook
• → Sranan Tongo: duku
  • → Caribbean Javanese: duku
  • → Dutch: doekoe

• doke

From Proto-Tai *tokᴰ (“to drop”). Cognate with Thai ตก (dtòk), Lao ຕົກ (tok), Lü ᦷᦎᧅ (ṫok), Shan တူၵ်း (túuk), Ahom 𑜄𑜤𑜀𑜫 (tuk), Bouyei dogt.

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /tok˥/
• Tone numbers: doek⁷
• Hyphenation: doek

doek (Sawndip forms 𬻨 or 笠 or 托 or 得 or 獨 or 堕 or 𰜺 or 𭰚 or 𮒏 or 岳 or 𢟎 or 𭢥 or 独 or ⿺失独 or ⿱入独 or ⿱不独 or ⿱穴独 or 𥫫 or ⿰亻独, 1957–1982 spelling dɵk)

1. to fall; to drop