balaclava.
A type of warm headgear covering the neck, head, and often part of the face, with apertures left as necessary, often made out of wool.
Meaning & usage
A type of warm headgear covering the neck, head, and often part of the face, with apertures left as necessary, often made out of wool.
A ski mask with holes for the eyes and, sometimes, the nose and mouth, which may be rolled up and worn like a toque or pulled over the face for greater protection.
Where this word comes from
From the city of Balaklava in Crimea, from Ottoman Turkish بالقلاوه (modern Turkish balıklava), alteration of بالقلاغه (balıklaga, “fishing ground”). During the Crimean War the British troops suffered from cold due to improper clothing. When the news spread in the home front after the Battle of Balaclava in 1854, the people began knitting warm clothing for the soldiers, including woollen caps to be worn under the helmet, which were named balaclavas by the troops.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.