tafels

Tafels is the Dutch plural of tafel, a word used for several related concepts involving flat surfaces and charts. In everyday language, tafels most often refer to tables—furniture pieces with a flat top used for meals, work, or display.

In furniture, tafels encompass a range of table types. Common examples include de eettafel (dining table), de salontafel (coffee table), de bureautafel or schrijftafel (desk), and de bijzettafel (side table). Tafels are made from various materials such as wood, metal, and glass, and they vary in size, style, and finish to suit homes, offices, and hospitality settings.

In mathematics and education, tafels refers to multiplication tables. Learners memorize the tafels van vermenigvuldiging (multiplication tables) to perform quick arithmetic. The phrase de tafel van … is used to indicate a specific multiplication product (for example, de tafel van zes).

Etymology-wise, the Dutch woord tafel is cognate with the German Tafel and English table, all deriving from a common Proto-Germanic root for a flat surface or board. The term also appears in idiomatic Dutch phrases such as aan tafel zitten, meaning to sit at the table during a meal, and can appear in compound forms related to boards or panels in organizational or educational contexts.

Overall, tafels covers both physical furniture and numerical tables, with context clarifying whether the reference is to a table you sit at or to a multiplication table used in math education.