hirsute

English

WOTD – 2 March 2009

Etymology

From Latin hirsūtus (shaggy, hairy).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /həːˈsjuːt/, /həːˈsuːt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /hɚˈsut/
  • (file)
    ,
    (file)
  • Rhymes: -uːt

Adjective

hirsute (comparative more hirsute, superlative most hirsute)

  1. Covered in hair or bristles; hairy.
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Henry Cripps, Partition 3, Section 3, Member 1, Subsection 2, p. 674,
      A third eminent cause of iealousie may be this, when hee that is deformed hirsute and ragged, and very vertuously giuen, will marry some very faire niec piece, or some light huswife, he begins to misdoubt (as well he may) she doth not affect him.
    • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, VII. Century, p. 157,
      [] there are of Roots, Bulbous Roots, Fibrous Roots, and Hirsute Roots.
    • 1823, Lord Byron, Don Juan, London: John Hunt, Canto IX, Stanza 53, p. 31,
      Juan, I said, was a most beauteous Boy,
      And had retained his boyish look beyond
      The usual hirsute seasons which destroy,
      With beards and whiskers and the like, the fond
      Parisian aspect []
    • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, London: Charles Griffin & Co., Volume 2, p. 133,
      At that period, too, the Jew’s long beard was far more distinctive than it is in this hirsute generation.
    • 2008, Desmond Morris, The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body, London: Vintage, Chapter 2, p. 30,
      Despite occasional hirsute rebellions by Cavaliers in the seventeenth century and hippies in the twentieth, the shaggy, long-haired male has remained a rarity []

Usage notes

Considerably more formal than everyday hairy.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations


French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin hirsūtus.

Pronunciation

  • (mute h) IPA(key): /iʁ.syt/
  • (file)

Adjective

hirsute (plural hirsutes)

  1. hairy, bristly, shaggy

Further reading


Latin

Adjective

hirsūte

  1. vocative masculine singular of hirsūtus
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.