mullet

¹ American  

[muhl-it] / ˈmʌl ɪt /

noun

• mullet,
  plural
• mullets
  plural

1. any of several marine or freshwater, usually gray fishes of the family Mugilidae, having a nearly cylindrical body.

2. a goatfish.

3. a sucker, especially of the genus Moxostoma.

---

mullet ² American  

[muhl-it] / ˈmʌl ɪt /

Also molet

noun

Heraldry.

1. a starlike charge having five points unless a greater number is specified, used especially as the cadency mark of a third son.

---

mullet ³ American  

[muhl-it] / ˈmʌl ɪt /

noun

1. a hairstyle in which the hair is short in the front and at the sides of the head, and longer in the back.

---

mullet ¹ British  

/ ˈmʌlɪt /

noun

1. any of various teleost food fishes belonging to the families Mugilidae (grey mullet) or Mullidae (red mullet) See also grey mullet red mullet

2. the US name for grey mullet

---

mullet ² British  

/ ˈmʌlɪt /

noun

1. a hairstyle in which the hair is short at the top and long at the back

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mullet
  plural
• mullets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mullet¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English molet, mulet, melet, from Old French mulet “red mullet,” from Latin mullus “red mullet,” from Greek mýllos, a kind of unidentified fish ; see -et

Origin of mullet²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English molet(te), from Old French molete “rowel of a spur,” equivalent to mole “millstone” ( French meule ) + -ette diminutive suffix; see -ette

Origin of mullet³

First recorded in 1990–95; perhaps by shortening of mullethead “blockhead, fool”; popularized and probably coined by U.S. hip-hop group the Beastie Boys

Explanation

Business in the front; party in the back. The mullet is a popular men's hairstyle from the 1980s, which is short on the sides and long in the back. For seven hundred years, mullet has referred to a fish, but since 1994 it has taken off as a way to describe a hairstyle. For anyone who lived through the 1980s, it can be hard to believe that the word mullet was not circulating as a haircut descriptor during the decade when the haircuts were popular. But no reference to mullet as a hairstyle appeared in print before the 1994 Beastie Boys 1994 song "Mullet Head" dubbed it "a way of life."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mullet mullets

“Twenty-five-year-old mullet man says he can control the weather by emitting heavy metals into the clouds above you,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025

"I hope not," he smiles when asked about the prospect of accidentally acquiring a mullet down under.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2025

I have a mullet … I feel like people need to experience more live stuff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2025

Playing England’s Reading festival in 2023, he sported a mullet haircut that “kind of happened by accident,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2025

I waited there until the mullet netter motored out of the basin and the marina was quiet.

From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen

Like miniskirts and mullets, obsolete political ideas will eventually come back into fashion if you wait long enough.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

As they drive around, they bestow mullets on everyone they came across, including notoriously bald wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

From Slate ● Feb. 12, 2024

Being in the presence of a Kawasaki Ridge makes both people and animals grow mullets.

From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2024

This trend should be in the same wastebasket as mullets, microwave dinners and inflated lips.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2024

By counting the dorsal fins, we figured out there were six grown-up dolphins and one baby—and they were having a blast, zipping in frothy circles, tossing mullets high in the air.

From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen