kitchen towel
In British English, a sheet of absorbent paper used for wiping surfaces, drying hands, or cleaning up spills — what Americans call a paper towel.
Seen in the wild
I learnt the lesson of cooking barefoot when I dropped a large chopping knife point down into the gap between my big toe and the next one . It bled like a burst pipe. Was touch and go that I'd be off to A&E with a ro…
Mannnnn, we were at a church conference (week long 8 hours a day no a/c) and they had the youth presenters on the front pews. All girls. This lady comes out the back with a damp KITCHEN towel for me to lay over my l…
Definitions
In British English, a sheet of absorbent paper used for wiping surfaces, drying hands, or cleaning up spills — what Americans call a paper towel. In other contexts it also means a cloth dish towel. The term is standard in UK domestic vocabulary and reflects the tendency to name disposable paper products after their cloth equivalents.
She tore off a sheet of kitchen towel to mop up the coffee she had spilled on the counter.
Comments
A dish towel.
“I learnt the lesson of cooking barefoot when I dropped a large chopping knife point down into the gap between my big toe and the next one . It bled like a burst pipe. Was touch and go that I'd be off to A&E with a roll of kitchen towel arcel taped to my foot”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Mannnnn, we were at a church conference (week long 8 hours a day no a/c) and they had the youth presenters on the front pews. All girls. This lady comes out the back with a damp KITCHEN towel for me to lay over my lap. Just mine! I was 16. It was infuriating and humiliating.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(UK) A sheet of kitchen paper.
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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Other words near "kitchen towel" (K)
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Related terms
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Semantically related
- paper towel81%
(Britain) A sheet of absorbent paper dispensed in restrooms, usually used for drying washed hands.
- kitchen paper78%
(UK) Paper towels intended for kitchen purposes such as absorbing spillages and wrapping sandwiches.
- paper towel76%
(North America, Australia, countable) A sheet of absorbent paper, used for cleaning and food preparation, usually sold in and dispensed from rolls.
- tea towel74%
(UK, Irish, Commonwealth) A cloth, made from cotton or linen, for drying dishes and glassware.