hair
/ˈhɛə/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms hairs hairing haired
- noun (countable) A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals.
- noun (uncountable) The collection or mass of such growths growing from the skin of humans and animals, and forming a covering for any part or the whole body.
- noun (uncountable) Specifically, the collection of hairs on the top and sides of the human head, growing from the scalp. “In the western world, women usually have long hair while men usually have short hair.”
- noun (zoology, countable) A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth.
- noun (botany, countable) A cellular outgrowth of the epidermis, consisting of one or of several cells, whether pointed, hooked, knobbed, or stellated. “Internal hairs occur in the flower stalk of the yellow frog lily (Nuphar).”
- noun (countable) Any slender, flexible outgrowth, filament, or fiber growing or projecting from the surface of an object or organism.
- noun (countable, engineering, firearms) A locking spring or other safety device in the lock of a rifle, etc., capable of being released by a slight pressure on a hair-trigger.
- noun (countable) Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth. “Just a little louder please—turn that knob a hair to the right.”
- verb (transitive) To remove the hair from.
- verb (intransitive) To grow hair (where there was a bald spot).
- verb (transitive) To cause to have or bear hair; to provide with hair
- verb To string the bow for a violin.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
thatch mop locks hair's-breadth hairsbreadth whisker fuzz tomentum pilus haircloth
Etymology
From Middle English her, heer, hær, from Old English hǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *hār, from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”), from Proto-Indo-European *kes- (“to scrape, comb”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hier, Híer (“hair”), West Frisian hier (“hair”), Cimbrian haar, har (“hair”), Dutch haar (“hair”), German and Low German Haar (“hair”), Luxembourgish Hoer (“hair”), Mòcheno hor (“hair”), Yiddish האָר (hor, “hair”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish hår (“hair”), Faroese and Icelandic hár (“hair”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cheveler, chevelere (“hair”), borrowed from Old French chevelëure (“hair, head-hair, coiffure, wig”).
The modern spelling with ai is not a regular representation of the vowel developed from Middle English. Rather, it is from Middle English here (haircloth) influenced by Old French haire.
* As a Scottish Gaelic and Irish surname, from ó héir (“descendant of Ír”), a personal name related to Old Irish sír (“long-lasting”), similar to Hare, O'Hare, Haire.
* As an English surname, from the noun hair.
* As a Scottish surname, variant of Ayre, Ayer.
* As a Dutch and German surname, Americanized from Haar, from haar (“sandy ridge”) (from Proto-Germanic *harugaz) and from the adjective Haar (“hair”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The collection or mass of filaments growing from the skin of an animal, and forming a covering for a part of the head or for any part or the whole of the body.
- noun One the above-mentioned filaments, consisting, in invertebrate animals, of a long, tubular part which is free and flexible, and a bulbous root imbedded in the skin.
Etymology [OE. her, heer, hær, AS. hær; akin to OFries, her, D. & G. haar, OHG. & Icel. har, Dan. haar, Sw. hår; cf. Lith. kasa.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hair”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details