Barber

How to spell barber

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce barber

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does barber mean?

1. nounA person whose job is cutting hair and trimming or shaving beards, typically for men.
2. verbTo cut or trim someone's hair or beard.

Barber in a sentence

• noun

  The barber trimmed his hair and tidied the back of his neck.

• verb

  He learned to barber his customers with quick, confident strokes.

• noun

  Every Saturday morning he visits the same barber on the high street.

• verb

  The old man would barber the local lads for a few coins.

Where does barber come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin barba, meaning 'beard', the same root that gives us 'barb' on a fish hook and the plant name 'barberry'. In medieval times the craft passed into Old French as barbeor and later barbier, a tradesman who trimmed beards and cut hair, and English borrowed it in the 1300s. For centuries the barber did far more than tidy hair: the so-called barber-surgeon also pulled teeth and let blood, which is why the traditional red and white pole still echoes bloodied bandages. The spelling stays close to the Latin beard root, so remembering 'barba' explains the first 'bar', while the trade ending -er marks the person who does the job. The trap for writers is simply the unstressed second vowel, which sounds like a vague 'er' yet is spelled -er, not -ar or -or.

How the word is built

• barb (from Latin barba: beard)
• -er (agent suffix: one who does)