- yarmalka, yarmalke, yarmelka, yarmelke, yarmulka, yermulke (rhotic variants)
- yamaka, yamalka, yamalke, yamelka, yamelke, yamilke, yamuka, yamulka, yamulke (nonrhotic variants)
Borrowed from Yiddish יאַרמלקע (yarmlke), from Polish jarmułka (“skullcap”) or a Ukrainian cognate of the same. Possibly from the Turkish yağmurluk (“rainwear”), though it could also be from Medieval Latin almutia (“hood, cowl”) (compare Latin amictus (“clothed, veiled”)).
yarmulke (plural yarmulkes)
- A skullcap worn by religious Jewish males (especially during prayer). [from 1903]
- 1991 October 1, Richard Goldstein, “The New Anti-Semitism: A Geshrei”, in Village Voice, page 33:
- And I always feel uncomfortable during the High Holy Days watching people in yarmulkes rushing through the streets, knowing they’ll be swaying and moaning something ancient and indecipherable, even to me.
- 2007 April 29, Patricia Cohen, “The Frozen Dozen”, in New York Times:
- But once Dr. Levenson, who works for the Indian Health Service and wears a colorful tapestry yarmulke, has alerted the tiny network, it almost seems as if we have stepped into Yiddishland.