overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

shawl.

A square or rectangular piece of cloth worn as a covering for the head, neck, and shoulders, typically by women.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ʃɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/ʃoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/ʃɔl//ʃɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. A square or rectangular piece of cloth worn as a covering for the head, neck, and shoulders, typically by women.

    She wears her shawl when it's cold outside.
  2. A fold of wrinkled flesh under the lips and neck of a bloodhound, used in scenting.

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi शाल (śāl) / Urdu شال (śāl)), from Classical Persian شال (šāl). Doublet of sari through Sanskrit.

verb/ʃɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/ʃoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/ʃɔl//ʃɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. To wrap in a shawl.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi शाल (śāl) / Urdu شال (śāl)), from Classical Persian شال (šāl). Doublet of sari through Sanskrit.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

shawl has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

shawl studioshawl workshello, shawl

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.