Crinite

From Word of the Day

crinite (KRY-nyt) adjective

Hairy.

[From Latin crinitus, from crinis (hair). Ultimately from Indo-European root sker- (to turn or bend) that's also the fount of other words such as curve, crest, arrange, shrink, crow, and crisp.]

"Clad in worn jeans with a matching shirt, construction boots and a straw cowboy hat, the crinite foreman ambulated about as he showed how adobe blocks were made." Thom Tansey; In Search of Lost Civilizations; Rainbow Books; 2000.

Why is a hairless person called bald? Because his head is balled, etymologically speaking. The ball in balled in this case refers to a white patch (as in bald eagle). People have been resorting to all sorts of tricks -- even spray-painting their heads black -- as a fix to the problem.

Next time you decide to comb-over to hide that white patch, watch out. You might owe a fee to the patent owner for that technique. Yes, US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) awarded a 1975 patent for comb-over: http://tinyurl.com/6qtq5

A method of styling hair to cover partial baldness using only the hair on a person's head. The hair styling requires dividing a person's hair into three sections and carefully folding one section over another.

Inventors: Smith; Frank J. (233 Cosmos Drive, Orlando, FL 32807); Smith; Donald J. (517 Brockway Ave., Orlando, FL 32807)