doek

Definitions

1. A cloth.
   South-Africa
2. A kopdoek: a kerchief or bandanna worn as a head covering.
   South-Africa

Examples

“He said: “What have⟳ you got that filthy doek on your head for?””

“1982, Can Themba, The Will to Die⟳, "Mama, how about a doek for Janet?" The doek! God save⟳ our gracious doek! A doek is a colourful piece of cloth that the African woman wears as headgear. It is tied stylistically into various shapes from Accra to Cape Town. I do not know⟳ the history of this innocuous piece of cloth. In Afrikans, the language of those of our white masters who are of Dutch and Huguenot descent, doek meant, variously, a tablecloth, a dirty rag, or a symbol of the slave. Perhaps it was later used by African women in contact⟳ with European ideas of beauty who realised that 'they had no hair' and subconsciously hid their heads under the doek. Whatever else, the doek had come⟳ to designate the African woman. So that evening when I said, 'Mama, how about a doek for Janet', I was proposing to transform⟳ her, despite her colour and her deep blue eyes, into an African woman for the while.”

CEFR level