Standard Lemma guide

cowlick

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈkaʊˌlɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US, regional: /ˈkælɪk/
  • rhymes with (US, regional) -ælɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: K AW1 L IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An unruly lock or section of hair that sticks straight out from the skull or lies at an angle at odds with the rest of an individual's hair, like a whorl or vortex.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: calflick

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a tuft of hair that grows in a different direction from the rest of the hair and usually will not lie flat

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hair

History

Etymology

From cow + lick; as the hair may appear to have been licked into place by a cow.

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: reveixí — unruly lock of hair
  • Cebuano: alimpulo — unruly lock of hair
  • Chinese Cantonese: 轉 /转 — unruly lock of hair
  • Danish: koslik — unruly lock of hair
  • Dutch: weerborstel — unruly lock of hair
  • French: épi — unruly lock of hair
  • Galician: remuíño — unruly lock of hair
  • German: Haarwirbel — unruly lock of hair
  • German: Wirbel — unruly lock of hair
  • Irish: deisealán — unruly lock of hair
  • Italian: ciuffo ribelle — unruly lock of hair
  • Italian: ritrosa — unruly lock of hair
  • Japanese: アホ毛 (ahoge) — unruly lock of hair
  • Limburgish: waerbeustel — unruly lock of hair
  • Navajo: atsiitʼáá haʼnootsʼeeʼ — unruly lock of hair
  • Persian: موی ناخواب (mu-ye nâxâb) — unruly lock of hair
  • Polish: kosmyk — unruly lock of hair
  • Portuguese: redemoinho — unruly lock of hair
  • Romanian: vârtej — unruly lock of hair
  • Romanian: moț — unruly lock of hair
  • Russian: вихор (vixor) — unruly lock of hair
  • Sardinian: pilos a s'imberta — unruly lock of hair
  • Serbo-Croatian: чупе́рак — unruly lock of hair
  • Serbo-Croatian: čuperak — unruly lock of hair
  • Spanish: remolino — unruly lock of hair
  • Spanish: mechón — unruly lock of hair
  • Swedish: koslick — unruly lock of hair
  • Tagalog: puyo — unruly lock of hair
  • Thai: ขวัญ (kwǎn) — unruly lock of hair
  • Vietnamese: khoáy — unruly lock of hair