Scarf Meaning
/skɑːf/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.
nounA headscarf.
Sentence Examples
You can wear my scarf as long as you don't spill anything on it.
Beth accused her sister, Sally, of tearing her scarf.
He tied a scarf around his neck.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She wore a warm woolen ____ around her neck to protect herself from the cold wind.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She wrapped a warm woolen ____ around her neck before stepping out into the cold.
Word Origin & History
Probably from Old Northern French escarpe (compare Old French escharpe (“pilgrim's purse suspended from the neck”), which see). The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of scrip.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"Vp from my Cabin, / My ſea-gowne scarft about me in the darke / Gropt I to find out them, […]"
— c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], signature N, recto:
"The back of her tan trenchcoat swished from left to right as she scarfed her head and disappeared into the dusk."
— 1994, Arthur Johnson, “Chinese Arithmetic”, in Tony Grima, editor, Not the Only One: Lesbian and Gay Fiction for Teens, Boston, Mass.: Alyson Publications, published January 1995, →ISBN, page 144:
"She was trying to keep the silken veil scarfing her shoulders in order."
— 1999, Isolde Martyn, chapter 12, in The Knight and the Rose, Sydney, N.S.W.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 125:
"Transfixed on the smaller branches, intensely black against the moon, were organs harvested from the body cavity – heart, spleen, kidneys and liver. […] A length of slippery bowel scarfed my neck."
— 2006, Jim Younger, chapter 21, in High John the Conqueror, London: Vintage Books, published 2007, →ISBN, section 1, page 276:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She wore a warm woolen ____ around her neck to protect herself from the cold wind.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She wrapped a warm woolen ____ around her neck before stepping out into the cold.