hirsute

[hur-soot, hur-soot]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hirsute ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

hairy; shaggy.

Botany, Zoology. covered with long, rather stiff hairs.

of, relating to, or characteristic of hair.

RELATED WORDS

bearded, shaggy, woolly, furry

Origin of hirsute

1615–25; < Latin hirsūtus rough, shaggy, bristly; akin to horrid

Related formshir·sute·ness, nounsub·hir·sute, adjectivesub·hir·sute·ness, noun

Synonyms for hirsute

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hirsute ON THESAURUS.COM

1. pilose, unshaved, bearded, bushy, woolly, furry.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hirsute

Contemporary Examples of hirsute

The star is not entirely to blame for his hideous, hirsute transgression.
Leo, the Beard Has to Go: When a Man’s Facial Hair Reaches Crisis Point
Tim Teeman
September 22, 2014
Okay, the historical “Santa” is quite different from the hirsute character on the Hallmark cards.
How Santa Hurts Christmas
Candida Moss
December 23, 2013
Arnone is 33, hirsute and handsome, his dark looks inherited from Sicilian ancestors.
The Art of the Pig
Blake Gopnik
October 31, 2011
Porter finds that loving a hirsute man is also about accepting the mixed messages his hairiness might imply.
An Ode to Shaggy Men
Marisa Meltzer
October 23, 2009
British comedienne Lucy Porter has penned a sweet tribute to hirsute men in her new book, Hairy Hunks.
An Ode to Shaggy Men
Marisa Meltzer
October 23, 2009

Historical Examples of hirsute

What was St. Meuse to me that for her I should mow my hirsute glories?
Camps, Quarters and Casual Places
Archibald Forbes
The entire plant is quite fibrous and has a hirsute surface.
The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise
M. E. Hard
There are two more species—the Pithecia hirsute and the Pithecia albicans.
The Western World
W.H.G. Kingston
With the scherzo the two hirsute faces broke into broad smiles.
Robert Elsmere
Mrs. Humphry Ward
And she got herself carried ashore by the hirsute giant McVane.
Patsy
S. R. Crockett

British Dictionary definitions for hirsute

hirsute

adjective

covered with hair

(of plants or their parts) covered with long but not stiff hairs

(of a person) having long, thick, or untrimmed hair

Derived Formshirsuteness, noun

Word Origin for hirsute

C17: from Latin hirsūtus shaggy; related to Latin horrēre to bristle, hirtus hairy; see horrid

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hirsute

adj.

"hairy," 1620s, from Latin hirsutus "rough, shaggy, bristly," figuratively "rude, unpolished," related to hirtus "shaggy," and possibly to horrere "to bristle with fear," from PIE *ghers-tu-, from root *ghers- "to bristle" (see horror).

Medicine definitions for hirsute

hirsute

[hûr′sōōt′, hîr′-, hər-sōōt′]

adj.

Covered with hair; hairy.