Also kefiyeh, -ia, kef(f)eyah, keffie(h), kafieh, kaff-, kufiyeh. [Arab. kaffīyah or kuffīyeh, by some held to be ad. late Lat. cofea, cuphia: see COIF.] A kerchief worn as a head-dress by the Bedouin Arabs.
a. 1817. J. L. Burckhardt, Bedouins (1831), I. 48. All the Bedouins wear on the head … a turban, or square kerchief of cotton,… called keffie.
a. 1839. Lady H. Stanhope, Mem. (1845), I. iii. 98 (Stanf.). A silk handkerchief, commonly worn by the Bedouin Arabs, known by the Arabic name of keffeyah.
1847. Disraeli, Tancred, III. vii. That audacious-looking Arab in a red kefia.
1881. L. Wallace, Ben Hur, I. i. His face was … hidden by a red kufiyeh.
1892. Blackw. Mag., March, 409/2. His head protected by a kefiyeh.
