piebald

American  

[pahy-bawld] / ˈpaɪˌbɔld /

adjective

1. having patches of black and white or of other colors; parti-colored.

   Synonyms:

   mottled, dappled

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noun

1. a piebald animal, especially a horse.

piebald British  

/ ˈpaɪˌbɔːld /

adjective

1. marked or spotted in two different colours, esp black and white

   a piebald horse

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noun

1. a black-and-white pied horse

Other Word Forms

• piebaldly adverb
• piebaldness noun

Etymology

Origin of piebald

1580–90; pie ² ( see pied) + bald

Explanation

Use the adjective piebald to describe something that has different colored patches — especially black and white patches. If you own a piebald horse, you could name him Spot. The adjective piebald is a combination of pie and bald. Pie was the original name for magpie, a common European bird known for its black and white coloring. Bald did not mean "hairless," but referred to a white patch, especially on the head (think bald eagle). So something piebald has a combination of black and white coloring. It mostly refers to horses, although the word can be used to describe other multicolored things.

Example Sentences

In spite of honey-and-gold weather, only 26,623 of Ebbets Field’s 32,500 seats were occupied, and there were wide, piebald patches of untented pews in left field.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2019

The moose wasn’t an albino either, according to National Geographic, but it had a partial form of leucism called piebald — where only specks of colors remain.

From The Verge • Sep. 17, 2017

The breeders of Prim’Holsteins—the archetypal piebald dairy cow, responsible for eighty per cent of France’s milk supply—were almost apologetic about the imperative of causing a ruckus.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 4, 2016

Ms. Bagnold’s story was about Velvet Brown, a working-class English girl who won an unwanted piebald in a village lottery and thrillingly rode it in a major steeplechase.

From New York Times • Oct. 26, 2015

The young pigs were piebald, and as Napoleon was the only boar on the farm, it was possible to guess at their parentage.

From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell