Other forms: flannels
A flannel is a small cloth used for washing the face. A wet flannel, wring out the flannel, a clean flannel.
This is British; Americans say washcloth or facecloth. The word also names a soft woven fabric, and in British slang to talk flannel means to speak evasively. It probably comes from a Welsh word for wool.
1nounflannelA small cloth used for washing.
“She washed the baby's face gently with a warm flannel.”
flannel is a cloth.
Also accepted in games: washcloth
Probably from Welsh gwlanen, woollen cloth, from gwlan, wool, through Anglo-Norman.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂welh₁-
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂
Proto-Celtic
*wlānos
Old French
flaine
Middle English
flaunneol
English, today
flannel
Built from
From Middle English flaunneol, from Anglo-Norman - flanelle (compare Norman flianné), diminutive of Old French flaine, floene (“coarse wool”), from cel-gau -, from Proto-Celtic wlānos, wlanā (“wool”) (compare Welsh gwlân, Breton gloan), from Proto-Indo-European h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. More at a doublet of wool.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA