hair

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The mass of fine threads that grow on a person's head.

   She has long brown hair.

2. 2
   noun

   A single thin thread that grows from the skin of a person or animal.

   There's a hair in my soup.

3. 3
   noun

   A very small distance or amount.

   They escaped death by a hair.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Hair is an Old English word. Its Germanic relatives include Middle Low German haer, also meaning “hair”; that word underlies harsch, literally “hairy” and later “rough,” which is the source of English harsh.

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”), borrow…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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