noun · 3 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
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CMU ARPABET:HH EH1 R IY0 N AH0 S
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The characteristic of being hairy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, Observ. XXVI, We have had (says he) another of this kind brought us out of the East-Indies, which being planted was in shew like the former, but came not to perfection, the unkindly season not suffering it to shew the flower; but of the Cods that were brought, some were smaller, shorter, and rounder then the Garden kind; others much longer, and many growing together, as it were in clusters, and cover'd all over with a brown short hairiness, so fine, that if any of it be rubb'd, or fall on the back of ones hand, or other tender parts of the skin, it will cause a kind of itching [...]
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A characteristic of yarn: the proportion of fibre ends that stick out and are not embedded in the yarn body.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
the quality of having hair
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pilosity
Antonyms: hairlessness
Broader terms: appearance, visual aspect
Narrower terms: hirsuteness, hirsutism
History
Etymology
Etymology tree English hairy Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English hairiness From hairy + -ness.
Across languages
Translations
15 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
косма́тост
(kosmátost)
— the characteristic of being hairy
Czech:
srstnatost
— the characteristic of being hairy
French:
pilosité
— the characteristic of being hairy
Georgian:
თმიანობა
(tmianoba)
— the characteristic of being hairy
Ancient Greek:
δᾰσῠ́της
(dăsŭ́tēs)
— the characteristic of being hairy
Italian:
pelosità
— the characteristic of being hairy
Italian:
villosità
— the characteristic of being hairy
Latin:
capillātūra
— the characteristic of being hairy
Serbo-Croatian:
дла̏каво̄ст
— the characteristic of being hairy
Serbo-Croatian:
dlȁkavōst
— the characteristic of being hairy
Spanish:
vellosidad
— the characteristic of being hairy
Swedish:
hårighet
— the characteristic of being hairy
Telugu:
నూగు
(nūgu)
— the characteristic of being hairy
Turkish:
kıllılık
— the characteristic of being hairy
Welsh:
blewogrwydd
— the characteristic of being hairy
