hair

English Online Dictionary. What means hair‎? What does hair mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English her, heer, hær, from Old English hǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *hār, from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hier (“hair”), West Frisian hier (“hair”), Dutch haar (“hair”), German Low German Haar (“hair”), German Haar (“hair”), Swedish, Danish and Norwegian hår (“hair”), 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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hâr, IPA^(key): /hɛə/
• (US, Canada, Ireland) IPA^(key): /hɛ(ə)ɹ/, [hɛɚ]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /heː/
  • (Victoria) IPA^(key): /hɛːə/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /heə/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /hiə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /heɹ/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /hɜː(ɹ)/
• Homophones: hare; air, heir (h-dropping); here (cheer–chair merger); her (fair–fur merger)
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Noun

hair (countable and uncountable, plural hairs) (but usually in singular)

2. (countable) A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals.
3. (uncountable) The collection or mass of such growths growing from the skin of humans and animals, and forming a covering for a part of the head or for any part or the whole body.
4. (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.
5. (botany, countable) A cellular outgrowth of the epidermis, consisting of one or of several cells, whether pointed, hooked, knobbed, or stellated.

6. (countable) Any slender, flexible outgrowth, filament, or fiber growing or projecting from the surface of an object or organism.

   (uncountable, by extension) The collection or mass of such outgrowths, filaments, or fibers growing or projecting from the surface of an object or organism.

7. (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.
8. (countable) Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth.

9. (slang, uncountable) Complexity; difficulty; the quality of being hairy.
   • January 2014, Barack Obama, quoted in "Going the Distance" by David Remnick, in The New Yorker

     Having said all that, those who argue that legalizing marijuana is a panacea and it solves all these social problems I think are probably overstating the case. There is a lot of hair on that policy.

Usage notes

• The word hair is usually used without an article in singular number when it refers to all the hairs on one's head in general. But if it refers to more than one hair, a few hairs, then it takes the plural form with an article and needs a plural verb.

Derived terms

Collocations

Translations

See also

• depilate, depilation, depilator, depilatory
• epilate, epilation, epilator, epilatory

Verb

hair (third-person singular simple present hairs, present participle hairing, simple past and past participle haired)

1. (transitive) To remove the hair from.
2. (intransitive) To grow hair (where there was a bald spot).
3. (transitive) To cause to have or bear hair; to provide with hair
4. To string the bow for a violin.

Translations

Anagrams

• Riha, Ihar, Ahir, riah, Hira, Hari, HRIA

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haɾʲ/

Verb

hair

1. h-prothesized form of air

Noun

hair

1. h-prothesized form of air

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

hair (plural haires)

1. Alternative form of her (“hair”)

Etymology 2

Noun

hair (plural haires or hairen)

1. Alternative form of here (“haircloth”)

Etymology 3

Adjective

hair

1. Alternative form of hor (“hoar”)

Etymology 4

Noun

hair

1. Alternative form of heir (“heir”)

Old French

Alternative forms

• hadir, haḍir, haïr

Etymology

From Frankish *hattjan.

Verb

hair

1. to hate

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. First person singular present hez and present subjunctives are inherited from Frankish with regular sound changes of *-ttj- > -z/c-. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Related terms

• haïne

Descendants

• Middle French: haïr
  • French: haïr
• Norman: haï

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish خیر (hayır), from Arabic خَيْر (ḵayr, “good, well, wellbeing”).

Noun

hair n (plural hairuri)

1. share
2. luck

Declension