Hair

/hɛər/

/hɛ/

IPA guide

Other forms: hairs

Hair is the strands of fiber that grow from a person's skin, especially on the scalp. Most mammals, from dogs to bears to mice, also have hair.

Your hair might be straight or curly, brown or gray or dark red. Even people with no hair on their heads have body hair, short, fine hairs that grow on arms and legs. Cats have coats that vary too, ranging from hairless to long, silky hair. Even some plants can be described as having hair. Colloquially, people "split hairs," or argue about unimportant things, or tell a "hair-raising" tale, or a spooky story that gives you chills.

Definitions of hair

noun
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss

“he combed his hair”

“each hair consists of layers of dead keratinized cells”

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types:
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coat, pelage
growth of hair or wool or fur covering the body of an animal

guard hair
coarse hairs that form the outer fur and protect the underfur of certain mammals

mane
long coarse hair growing from the crest of the animal's neck

forelock, foretop
a part of a horse's mane that grows forward between the ears

beard
hairy growth on or near the face of certain mammals

body hair
short hair growing over a person's body

down, pile
fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)

head of hair, mane
growth of hair covering the scalp of a human being

cowlick
a tuft of hair that grows in a different direction from the rest of the hair and usually will not lie flat

coif, coiffure, hair style, hairdo, hairstyle
the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair)

curl, lock, ringlet, whorl
a strand or cluster of hair

facial hair
hair on the face (especially on the face of a man)

brow, eyebrow, supercilium
the arch of hair above each eye

cilium, eyelash, lash
any of the short curved hairs that grow from the edges of the eyelids

fur
dense coat of fine silky hairs on mammals (e.g., cat or seal or weasel)

fleece, wool
outer coat of especially sheep and yaks

encolure
the mane of a horse

lanugo
the fine downy hair covering a human fetus; normally shed during the ninth month of gestation

beehive
a hairdo resembling a beehive

bouffant
a woman's hairstyle in which the hair gives a puffy appearance

haircut
the style in which hair has been cut

sausage curl
a fat sausage-shaped curl

forelock
a lock of hair growing (or falling) over the forehead

crimp
a lock of hair that has been artificially waved or curled

dreadlock
one of many long thin braids of hair radiating from the scalp; popularized by Rastafarians

Afro, Afro hairdo
a rounded thickly curled hairdo

bang, fringe
a border of hair that is cut short and hangs across the forehead

bob
a hair style for women and children; a short haircut all around

wave
a hairdo that creates undulations in the hair

braid, plait, tress, twist
a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair

chignon
a roll of hair worn at the nape of the neck

marcel
a hairdo characterized by deep regular waves that are made by a heated curling iron

pageboy
a smooth hair style with the ends of the hair curled inward

pompadour
a hair style in which the front hair is swept up from the forehead

ponytail
a hair style that draws the hair back so that it hangs down in back of the head like a pony's tail

roach
a roll of hair brushed back from the forehead

scalp lock
a long tuft of hair left on top of the shaven head

thatch
hair resembling thatched roofing material

beard, face fungus, whiskers
the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face

moustache, mustache
an unshaved growth of hair on the upper lip

burnside, mutton chop, side-whiskers, sideburn
facial hair that has grown down the side of a man's face in front of the ears (especially when the rest of the beard is shaved off)

mullet
a hairstyle in which the hair is left long at the back but cut short on the top and sides

tress
(usually plural) a long lock of hair

type of:
body covering
any covering for the body or a body part
noun
any of the cylindrical filaments characteristically growing from the epidermis of a mammal

“there is a hair in my soup”

synonyms: pilus

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types:
ingrown hair
a hair that does not emerge from the follicle but remains embedded in the skin (usually causing inflammation)

type of:
filament, filum
a threadlike structure (as a chainlike series of cells)
noun
filamentous hairlike growth on a plant

synonyms: fuzz, tomentum

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types:
stinging hair
a multicellular hair in plants like the stinging nettle that expels an irritating fluid

beard
a tuft or growth of hairs or bristles on certain plants such as iris or grasses

awn
slender bristlelike appendage found on the bracts of grasses

type of:
enation, plant process
a natural projection or outgrowth from a plant body or organ
noun
cloth woven from horsehair or camelhair; used for upholstery or stiffening in garments

synonyms: haircloth

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type of:
cloth, fabric, material, textile
artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers
noun
a filamentous projection or process on an organism

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types:
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bristle
a stiff hair

sensory hair, vibrissa, whisker
a long stiff hair growing from the snout or brow of most mammals as e.g. a cat

seta
a stiff hair or bristle

pilus
hairlike structure especially on the surface of a cell or microorganism

chaeta
a stiff chitinous seta or bristle especially of an annelid worm

type of:
appendage, outgrowth, process
a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant
noun
a very small distance or space

“they escaped by a hair's-breadth”

synonyms: hair's-breadth, hairsbreadth, whisker

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type of:
small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity
an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude

Pronunciation

/hɛər/

/hɛ/

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