hair

Meaning

Noun

1. A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. A cellular outgrowth of the epidermis, consisting of one or of several cells, whether pointed, hooked, knobbed, or stellated.
5. Any slender, flexible outgrowth, filament, or fiber growing or projecting from the surface of an object or organism.
6. 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.
7. Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth.
8. (slang) Complexity; difficulty; the quality of being hairy.

Verb

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

Pronounced as (IPA)

/hɛə/

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.

Sentences

He washed the detritus from his hair .