curly

Etymology

It is formed from English curl + -y, from the noun.^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of hair, lying in curls or ringlets: 1774, in James Cook's journal,^[2] in the 1770s for Etymonline, which notes that the first uses are of hair.^[3] Merriam-Webster gives a first known use of 1598,^[5] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1720–30.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From hair the word spread to anything of curled or wavy form, and to plants with curled leaves (1796, Southey), then to people with curly hair (1827).^[2] In 1791 potatoes affected by the disease called curl were curly, and in 1868 a cricket ball could be one that curls.^[2] Wood whose grain curves in and out, as in curly maple, is also called curly.^[5][2] English dialects from Scotland to Dorset made compounds such as curly-buttons for woodlice and curly-greens for cabbages with crinkled tops.^[7] In slang Curly has been an ironic nickname for a bald man since about 1910,^[8] and in Australian and New Zealand English a curly question is a hard one to answer.^[9]

Timeline

• 1774 – of hair, in curls or ringlets.^[2]
• 1791 – of potatoes, affected with curl.^[2]
• 1796 – of a curled or wavy form.^[2]
• 1827 – having curls; having curly hair.^[2]
• 1868 – in cricket, curling.^[2]
• 1953 – Curly, an ironic nickname for a bald man.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Tending to curl, or having curls: curly hair.^[9][5][2]
2. Having curly hair.^[2][4]
3. Wavy or curved in shape; of plants, having curled leaves: curly kale.^[2][4][5]
4. Of wood, having a grain whose fibres curve in and out, giving bands of light and dark: curly maple.^[5][9]
5. (Australia and New Zealand, informal) Hard to answer or deal with: The reporters had a few curly questions for the minister.^[9]

Word family

• curlily
• curliness
• curlicue
• curlyhead
• curly top
• curly endive

Related words

• curl

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
8. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins