hirsute

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈhɜːrsuːt/ UK /ˈhɜːsjuːt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
covered with coarse hair; shaggy

The hirsute climber had not shaved in weeks.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · covered with coarse hair;... hairy shaggy bristly furry woolly bushy unshaven

Opposites

bald hairless smoothglabrous

Word family

Derived forms hirsutenesshirsutism

Etymology

From Latin hirsutus ('rough, shaggy, bristly'), related to hirtus ('shaggy') and horrere ('to bristle, stand on end').

hirsutus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# hirsute

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɜːrsuːt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhɜːsjuːt/

## Meanings
1. covered with coarse hair; shaggy

## Examples
- The hirsute climber had not shaved in weeks.

## Synonyms
- hairy
- shaggy
- bristly
- furry
- woolly
- bushy
- unshaven

## Antonyms
- bald
- hairless
- smooth
- glabrous

## Derived Forms
- hirsuteness
- hirsutism

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hirsutus

## Etymology
From Latin hirsutus ('rough, shaggy, bristly'), related to hirtus ('shaggy') and horrere ('to bristle, stand on end').

## AI Etymology
hirsute comes from Latin hirsutus ('rough, shaggy, bristly'), related to hirtus ('shaggy') and horrere ('to bristle, stand on end'). The path is chiefly one of transmission: the word passes through the named languages and forms, with each stage preserving part of the modern shape. In present English, the adjective sense is "covered with coarse hair; shaggy", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also remains productive in derivatives such as hirsuteness and hirsutism. Its semantic neighborhood includes hairy, shaggy, bristly, and furry, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin hirsutus.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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