Hair

How to spell hair

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce hair

What does hair mean?

1. nounThe fine thread-like strands that grow from the skin, especially on the head.

Hair in a sentence

• She dyed her hair a darker shade of brown.

• The barber swept the cut hair from the floor.

Where does hair come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Hair is a native English word that traces back to the Old English hǣr, which named the fine thread-like strands that grow from the skin of people and animals. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with close relatives such as the Old Norse hār, the Dutch haar, and the German Haar, all carrying the same basic meaning. The spelling drifted over the centuries from hǣr through Middle English forms like heer and here before settling into the modern hair. Its trickiest feature for writers is that it sounds identical to hare, the long-eared animal, which comes from an entirely separate Old English word, hara; the two have never been related despite sharing a sound. Keeping the -air ending in mind, as in air and fair, is a reliable way to hold on to the correct spelling.

How the word is built

• hair (single root, from Old English hǣr: a thread-like growth on skin)

Words that sound like hair

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• hare: A fast-running mammal similar to a rabbit but larger, with longer ears and powerful hind legs.