Handkerchief


How to write it?

ハンカチ
ハンケチ
ハンカチーフ
手巾はんかち手帛はんかち手帕はんかち手布はんかち
半巾はんかち半帛はんかち

When writing handkerchief in Japanese, You can use Katakana ハンカチ.
ハンカチーフ is the Japanese like pronunciation of ハンカチーフ.
ハンカチ and ハンケチ are a short version of ハンカチーフ

Nowadays, we use ハンカチ in daily conversations. You hardly see ハンケチ, ハンカチーフ and kanji versions in everyday life. You can see them in novels, especially which written in before the Taisho era.


Advanced Tips

手巾 , 手帛, 手帕, 手布 are made up of a kanji meaning hand and another kanji meaning cloth. I suppose they include a kanji =hand because handkerchiefs are associated with ぬぐい which is a Japanese traditional towel used to wipe hands or sweat. 

半巾 , 半帛 are made up of a kanji meaning half and another kanji meaning cloth. I suppose they include a kanji はん=half because はん and ハン of ハンカチ are the same sounds “han”. Or possibly, they could come from the half in ぬぐい.