fair-haired

American  

[fair-haird] / ˈfɛərˌhɛərd /

adjective

1. having light-colored hair.

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idioms

1. fair-haired boy, a person, especially a young one, treated as a favorite or considered especially promising by a superior or the members of a group.

   He's the fair-haired boy of the literary set.

Etymology

Origin of fair-haired

First recorded in 1620–30; fair ¹ + hair + -ed ³

Example Sentences

The baffling disappearance of a fair-haired, little boy from a remote Australian farm has been declared a major crime, with detectives pointing the finger at a suspect in his home.

From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026

The 2000 summary document asks if Z3 was the “blonde offender”, a reference to an unidentified fair-haired lead attacker described by eyewitnesses to the murder.

From BBC • Jul. 25, 2024

At a weekly outdoor market, Russian shoppers nearly outnumbered Turks, arriving with wheeled shopping baskets and fair-haired children in strollers to sample the olives and haggle with the cheese sellers.

From New York Times • Dec. 29, 2022

Stempel and Van Doren were an obvious contrast: The fair-haired and handsome Van Doren, and the relatively plain Stempel, a stocky, dark-haired man with glasses and a flat, nasally accent.

From Washington Times • May 31, 2020

The Matron was a large fair-haired woman with a bosom.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl