Beard
/bɪrd/noun
The hair that grows on the chin and cheeks of a man or some other male mammals.
Did you know?Beard descends from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “hair,” which also lies behind words like hair and horse mane in other ancient branches, showing how body hair was named from a very old shared human vocabulary.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bhardh- / *bhardhā-
“hair, beard, bristle”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*beardō
“beard”
Old English
Anglo-Saxon
beard
“beard; facial hair on the chin and cheeks”
Middle English
English
berd / beard
“beard”
Modern English
English
beard
“the hair growing on a man's chin and lower cheeks”