towhead

American  

[toh-hed] / ˈtoʊˌhɛd /

Or tow-head

noun

1. a person with very light blond hair.

   He’s the only towhead in the family but otherwise looks almost identical to his brother Mike.

2. a head of very light blond hair.

   C’mon, Blondie, get your towhead off the pillow and let’s get going!

3. a sandbar in a river, especially a sandbar along a stand of cottonwood trees.

---

towhead British  

/ ˈtəʊˌhɛd /

noun

1. a person with blond or yellowish hair

2. a head of such hair

---

Other Word Forms

• tow-headed adjective
• towheaded adjective

Etymology

Origin of towhead

An Americanism first recorded in 1820–30; tow ² + head

Explanation

A towhead is someone who has very light blond hair. It's most common to describe blond children as towheads. A true towhead has hair so light that it's nearly white, which is why most towheads are kids. Typically, blond hair grows darker as people age — even if you are blond as an adult, you hair will still be a darker shade of blond than it was when you were a young child. The word comes from the noun tow in the sense of "flax," which is usually a golden color.

Example Sentences

Thomas was white-white, a towhead with a patched eye.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 30, 2019

As it happens, Carter, the towhead looking at the camera through over-sized glasses, actually is pretty interesting … and at the same time pretty 9-year-old normal.

From Washington Times • Dec. 1, 2018

Except that the sweet little towhead girl running around us wasn’t named Heidi.

From Forbes • May 26, 2015

Mindy was a freckled towhead with legs so white you could see a river of purplish veins on their surface.

From Salon • Jan. 6, 2013

The boy—a stocky, sharp-eyed, talkative towhead of about twelve—was exuberantly grateful, but the old man, whose face was seamed and yellow, feebly crawled into the back seat and slumped there silently.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote