English

facecloth

From face + cloth.

A compound of face + cloth

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k-

…

Latin faciēs ‘form’

Late Latin facia

Old French face

Middle English face

English face

Proto-Germanic *klaiþą ‘garment’

Proto-West Germanic *klaiþ

Old English clāþ ‘cloth, clothes, covering, sail’

Middle English cloth

English cloth

Today it means

noun A flannel for washing the face.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / facecloth