Standard Lemma guide

white-haired

adj · 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

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having white hair; especially, of a person, from old age.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: grizzly, silver-haired; see also Thesaurus:grey-haired

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hoary, elder, elderly, geriatric, gerontologic, gerontological, long in the tooth, matured, of a certain age, old as Methuselah, on in years, over the hill, senior, superannuated, ivy-covered, preserved, wintry, grizzly, silver-haired, gray / grey, gray-headed / grey-headed, grey-haired / gray-haired, grisly, grizzled, mouldy, silvery-haired, white-haired

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair-Coleridge

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • whose beard with age is hoar
  • nodded his hoary head

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grey, gray, grey-haired, gray-haired, grey-headed, gray-headed, grizzly, hoar, hoary

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English white-heered, white-harid, white-herede, whyte-harede, white hared, equivalent to white + haired. Compare Old Norse hvít-hárr and hvít-hærðr (“white-haired”).

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: أَشْيَب (ʔašyab) — having white hair
  • Azerbaijani: ağbaş — having white hair
  • Catalan: pèl-blanc — having white hair
  • Catalan: cabellblanc — having white hair
  • Danish: hvidhåret — having white hair
  • Finnish: valkotukkainen — having white hair
  • Finnish: valkohapsinen — having white hair
  • French: chenu — having white hair
  • Galician: cano — having white hair
  • German: weißhaarig — having white hair
  • Ancient Greek: λευκόθριξ (leukóthrix) — having white hair
  • Hungarian: fehér/ősz hajú — having white hair
  • Irish: bán — having white hair
  • Irish: fionn — having white hair
  • Irish: bánfholtach — having white hair
  • Irish: ceannbhán — having white hair
  • Irish: fionngheal — having white hair
  • Irish: ceanngheal — having white hair
  • Japanese: 白髪の (shiraga no) — having white hair
  • Korean: 백발(白髪)의 (baekbar-ui) — having white hair
  • Macedonian: бе́локос (bélokos) — having white hair
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hvithåret — having white hair
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hvithåra — having white hair
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kvithåret — having white hair
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kvithåra — having white hair
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kvithåra — having white hair
  • Polish: białowłosy — having white hair
  • Portuguese: grisalho — having white hair
  • Portuguese: cão — having white hair
  • Spanish: peliblanco — having white hair
  • Swedish: vithårig — having white hair
  • Unami: òpalhùkwe — having white hair
Real reading context

white-haired in complete knowledge articles