Tar Heel
Americannoun
Usage
What is a Tar Heel? A Tar Heel is a nickname for a resident of North Carolina. It’s also the name of the University of North Carolina's (UNC) athletic teams, students, alums, etc. How is Tar Heel pronounced?[ tahr heel ]
Etymology
Origin of Tar Heel
An Americanism dating back to 1860–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It would be the second largest for Smithfield in the U.S., behind its Tar Heel, N.C., facility—the world’s largest pork processing facility by volume.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026
"The Tar Heel way is about to become a thing 100."
From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026
By his next stop in the Tar Heel state, the 78-year-old appeared even more exhausted, turning in what local outlet NC Newsline described as a “disjointed” appeal for votes in the small city of Kinston.
From Salon • Nov. 4, 2024
North Carolina was second only to much, much larger California in the number of manufacturing jobs lost: According to one estimate, the Tar Heel State lost nearly half its jobs in that sector.
From Slate • Oct. 10, 2024
Those who cared about such things tended to express their allegiance by wearing either Tar Heel powder blue, or Wolf Pack red, two colors that managed to look good on no one.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
