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A napkin, serviette, or face towelette is a square of fabric or paper tissue used to wipe the lips and fingers while dining at the table. It is generally folded and tiny, with complex patterns and forms.

The phrase was first used in the 14th century to describe a piece of fabric or paper used to wipe the lips or fingers and preserve clothes during meals.

It is derived from the suffix -kin of the Late Middle English nappekin, derived from Old French nappe (tablecloth, from Latin mappa).

It can also refer to a tiny cloth or towel, such as a handkerchief in dialectal British, a kerchief in Scotland, and a nappy or diaper in most English-speaking nations outside North America. Except in formal English and South Africa, where it still maintains its original meaning, it has developed into “nappy.”

It might also stand for “sanitary napkin.”

The napkin is folded and put to the left of the place setting, outside the outermost fork, according to tradition. It may be folded into more intricate forms and placed on an empty plate in a restaurant or caterer’s hall. Three-dimensional designs may be made using origami techniques. A napkin ring can also be used to hold a bundle of napkins and flatware together. Paper napkins can also be kept within a napkin holder.

The ancient Greeks used bread to wipe their hands, according to most napkin history summaries. A line in one of Alciphron’s letters (3:44) and certain remarks made by the sausage salesman in Aristophanes’ play The Knights support this theory. In both sources, the bread is called apomagdalia, which means “bread from the crust’s interior,” not “napkin bread.” In ancient Rome, napkins were also utilized.

In English, one of the oldest references to table napkins is from 1384–85.

Paper napkins were first used in ancient China in the 2nd century BC when paper was created. Paper napkins called chih PHA were folded into squares and used to serve tea. Paper napkins are mentioned in a description of the Yu family’s belongings from Hangzhou.

“It’s far better formed to use paper napkins than linen napkins that were used at breakfast,” Emily Post declared in 1948 after paper napkins were first brought to the United States in the late 1800s.

In 1491, Leonardo da Vinci was said to have created the napkin. According to legend, Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, tied live rabbits with ribbons to the backs of guests’ seats so they might wash their hands on the animal’s back. This was deemed improper by Da Vinci, who gave each visitor a cloth. The legend comes from Jonathan Routh and Shelagh Routh’s hoax book Leonardo’s Kitchen Notebooks (1987), which says a long-lost Codex Romanoff was discovered in 1981 but never truly existed.

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