hair

hair
\ \ [OE] No general Indo-European term for ‘hair’ has come down to us. All the ‘hair’-words in modern European languages are descended from terms for particular types of hair – hair on the head, hair on other parts of the body, animal hair – or for single hairs or hair collectively, and indeed many retain these specialized meanings: French cheveu, for instance, means ‘hair of the head’, whereas poil denotes ‘body hair’ or ‘animal hair’. In the case of English hair, unfortunately, it is not clear which of these categories originally applied, although some have suggested a connection with Lithuanian serysbrush’, which might indicate that the prehistoric ancestor of hair was a ‘bristly’ word.
\ \ The furthest back in time we can trace it is to West and North Germanic *khǣram, source also of German, Dutch, and Danish haar and Swedish hår.
\ \ The slang use of hairy for ‘difficult’ is first recorded in the mid 19th century, in an erudite context that suggests that it may have been inspired by Latin horridus (source of English horrid), which originally meant (of hair) ‘standing on end’. Its current use, in which ‘difficult’ passes into ‘dangerous’, seems to have emerged in the 1960s, and was presumably based on hair-raising, which dates from around 1900. It is fascinatingly foreshadowed by harsh, which is a derivative of hair and originally meant ‘hairy’.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • haïr — haïr …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • haïr — [ air ] v. tr. <conjug. : 10> • 1080; frq. °hatjan REM. Au Canada, [ ajir ] avec h muet : j hais. 1 ♦ Avoir (qqn) en haine. ⇒ détester, exécrer, honnir. « Ils nous haïssent de toute la haine du domestique pour le maître, du petit pour le… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • hair — W1S1 [heə US her] n [: Old English; Origin: hAr] 1.) [U] the mass of things like fine threads that grows on your head ▪ She put on her lipstick and brushed her hair . ▪ I must get my hair cut it s getting very long. ▪ You ve had your hair done… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Hair — (h[^a]r), n. [OE. her, heer, h[ae]r, AS. h[=ae]r; akin to OFries. h[=e]r, D. & G. haar, OHG. & Icel. h[=a]r, Dan. haar, Sw. h[*a]r; cf. Lith. kasa.] 1. The collection or mass of filaments growing from the skin of an animal, and forming a covering …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • *haïr — ● haïr verbe transitif (francique hatjan) Avoir de la haine pour quelqu un, lui vouloir du mal, abhorrer, exécrer quelqu un : Haïr les dictateurs. Avoir de la répugnance, de l aversion, de l horreur pour quelque chose : Haïr l hypocrisie. ● haïr… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • hair — HAIR. v. a (l h s aspire.) Vouloir mal à quelqu un. Haïr ses ennemis, les haïr mortellement, cruellement. haïr quelqu un à mort, le haïr à la mort. haïr son prochain, le haïr. comme la peste, le haïr en diable. haïr les meschans. haïr les… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • hair — [ her ] noun *** uncount the thing that grows on your head in a mass of thin fibers: long black hair a girl with dark shoulder length hair He wore his hair in a ponytail. You need to brush your hair before you go out. a. uncount hair that grows… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • hair — ► NOUN 1) any of the fine thread like strands growing from the skin of mammals and other animals, or from the epidermis of a plant. 2) strands of hair collectively, especially on a person s head. 3) a very small quantity or extent. ● hair of the… …   English terms dictionary

  • hair — do’s and dont’s have been a tricky subject in Chinese culture ever since the Manchu conquest in 1644. It has been observed by many writers and scholars that the transition from late imperial to modernity was, for many Chinese who lived at the… …   Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture

  • hair — [her, har] n. [ME here < OE hær (akin to Ger haar, Frank * harja) & < ? OFr haire, hair shirt < Frank * harja < IE base * k̑er(s) , to bristle] 1. any of the fine, threadlike outgrowths from the skin of an animal or human being 2. a… …   English World dictionary

  • hair´i|ly — hair|y «HAIR ee», adjective, hair|i|er, hair|i|est, noun, plural hair|ies. –adj. 1. covered with hair; having much hair: »hairy hads, a hairy ape …   Useful english dictionary

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