Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Serviette for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Serviette" — noun, pronounced /ˌsɜːviˈet/, with the stress on "et".
Narrator: A serviette is a piece of paper or cloth used at meals to wipe your mouth and hands.
Narrator: In plain English, it is a napkin.
Narrator: It comes from French serviette.
Narrator: A common collocation is "paper serviette", which describes a disposable one.
Narrator: It differs from "napkin", because serviette and napkin mean the same, but some Britons see napkin as more upper-class.
Narrator: In a second sense, choosing serviette or napkin was once a famous British class marker.
Narrator: Catering, etiquette, retail and sociology all rely on the word.
Narrator: So remember: a serviette keeps your fingers clean.
Speaker A: Could you pass me a serviette?
Speaker B: Here's a SERVIETTE! From French.
Speaker A: Paper's fine?
Speaker B: Perfect for chips.
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "Fold the serviettes into fans", parties. "A pack of Christmas serviettes", shopping. "Napkin or serviette?", a class debate.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Spell it with double "t", "serviette".
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: Napkin is its twin, tissue its cousin, and cloth an alternative — yet serviette keeps its tidy charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "serviette" in AI prompts — useful for event planning and localisation.
Speaker A: How for events?
Speaker B: Table plans.
Prompt: Create a table setting checklist including serviettes for a wedding of eighty.
Speaker A: And localisation?
Speaker B: Vocabulary.
Prompt: Explain serviette to American readers with the equivalent word.
Speaker A: Could it help crafts?
Speaker B: Yes, for folding.
Prompt: Give instructions for folding a serviette into a lily.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: Sociology.
Prompt: Explain why napkin versus serviette became a British class marker.
Serviette — meaning in Arabic & definition More S courses GL Dictionary