Hirsute
/ˈhɜːr.sjuːt/noun
Covered with hair; very hairy.
Did you know?Hirsute comes from Latin hirsūtus, an intensive form tied to hairiness and roughness, and it survives as a rare, elevated word rather than a common everyday term.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ḱers-
“to bristle, be rough, or stand out like hair”
Latin
Latin
hirsūtus
“hairy, shaggy, rough”
Late Latin
Latin
hirsūtus
“hairy; covered with coarse hair”
Middle French
French
hirsute
“hairy, shaggy”
16th Century
English
hirsute
“hairy; rough with hair”
Modern English
English
hirsute
“covered with hair; very hairy”