Meaning

noun a garment that covers the head and face

noun a membranous covering attached to the immature fruiting body of certain mushrooms

noun the inner membrane of embryos in higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth)

originFrom Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0