percale

P3E1R1C3A1L1E1
UK/pəˈkeɪl/UK/pəˈkɑːl/

noun

A fine, closely woven fabric, made from cotton, polyester or a mix of these, and used for sheets and clothing.

OriginFrench percale →
UncommonScrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounpercale (countable and uncountable, plural percales)

plural percales

  1. countableuncountablebusinessA fine, closely woven fabric, made from cotton, polyester or a mix of these, and used for sheets and clothing.

    In her percale bed. In her heaven of piled pillows.

    1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 403

Origin

  1. Frenchpercale
  2. Englishpercale

From French percale, of uncertain origin; probably compare percaulah.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian хасе
  • хасе (hase)textile
Catalan percala
  • percalatextile
German Perkal
  • Perkaltextile
Hungarian perkál
  • perkáltextile
Italian percalle
  • percalletextile
Persian پرگاله
  • پرگاله (pargâle)textile
Polish perkal
  • perkaltextile
Romanian percal
  • percaltextile
Russian перка́ль
  • перка́ль (perkálʹ)textile
Spanish percal
  • percaltextile
Swedish perkal
  • perkaltextile
Tagalog perkal
  • perkaltextile
Turkish perkal
  • perkaltextile
Ukrainian перка́ль
  • перка́ль (perkálʹ)textile

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with percale

emailmailretailscaledetailfailtrailthumbnailtailtaledalejailyalepalegalesailavailbailvalealeGailhalehailvail
All rhymes →

Anagrams

replace
Cite this entry
APA

percale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/percale

MLA

“percale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/percale. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “percale,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/percale.

Source: percale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.