A hankie is a small square of cloth for your nose or to wipe your face — a handkerchief, said the short, homely way. It is informal and a little old-fashioned-soft; parents and older people still say hankie, and you also see the spelling hanky. Many people now use a paper tissue instead, but the cloth hankie is the original thing you keep in a pocket and wash. Though actually, it is only the cloth (or sometimes a paper stand-in in loose talk); it has nothing to do with hanky-panky, which is a joke about secret romance.