bald

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Having little or no hair on the head.

   My uncle went bald in his thirties.

2. 2
   adj

   Without the usual covering, such as grass, leaves, or surface.

   There was a bald spot on the lawn where nothing would grow.

3. 3
   adj

   Plain and direct, with nothing added.

   He gave a bald statement of the facts without any explanation.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Bald is a Middle English word whose relatives in other northern European languages suggest an original sense of “having a white patch or streak.” That older meaning may be preserved in “as bald as a coot,” since a coot has a conspicuous white patch on its forehead rather than a featherless head.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- Proto-Germanic *balluz Old English *beall Middle English bal? Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- Proto-Indo-European *bʰḗlH-o-m Proto-Germanic *bēlą Proto-West Germanic *bāl Old English bæl? Middle English balled English bald From Middle English balled, ballid, bald (“bald”), of uncertain origin. Probably formed from Middle English bal, balle (“ball, round object, knoll, head”). Compare Old Danish bældet (“bald”). An alternate etymology has Old English bǣl (“fire, flame; funeral pyre”), from Proto-Germanic *bēlą. Compare Albanian balë (“white spot on the foreh…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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