Etymologically
Log in

hairline

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word hairline

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1731 Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society)
Ultimate origins
Old English hærOld French ligne
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English hair
English hairline
From the same root
English hairdresser ← hair

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈhɛɹˌlaɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English hair + line,[2][3][4][5] the second element being line in the sense of a cord or rope.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A line or rope made of hair: 1731, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[2][3][6] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the late 16th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

From a cord of hair, which Merriam-Webster now marks archaic,[6] the word came to mean anything as thin as a hair: a very fine line, such as the up-stroke of a written letter, recorded from 1846.[2][3] Printers used it for a very thin-faced type (1888) and for the thin stroke of a letter, as against the stem and serifs (1896).[2] A hairline was also a hair-cord fabric (1862).[2] The sense of the line where the hair on the head stops growing appears by 1903 in Etymonline's record,[3] and in 1922 in the OED, in Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt.[2] In metallurgy a hairline or hairline crack is recorded from 1923,[2] and Etymonline finds the adjective used of cracks from 1904.[3] The figurative sense, a very thin dividing line or very small difference, is recorded from 1940, in a letter of F. Scott Fitzgerald.[2][4] Medicine has hairline fracture, a very fine crack in a bone.[4]

Timeline

  • 1731 – a line or rope made of hair.[2][3][6]
  • 1846 – a very thin line, such as the up-stroke of a letter.[2][3][7]
  • 1862 – hair-cord, a fabric.[2]
  • 1888 – in printing, hairline letter, a very thin-faced type.[2]
  • 1896 – the thin stroke of a letter form.[2]
  • 1903 – the outline of the hair on the head.[3][2]
  • 1923 – a very fine crack in metal.[2][4]
  • 1940 – figurative, a very thin dividing line.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The line along the forehead and around the head where the hair begins to grow: His hairline had begun to recede.[8][9][4]
  2. A very slender line: a hairline of light under the door.[6][9][8]
  3. A tiny line or crack on a surface, as in paint, metal or bone; also, a fine scratch on a coin.[6][4]
  4. A very thin stroke in a printed letter; also, a typeface made of such strokes.[6][9][8]
  5. A textile design of thin stripes one thread wide, or a fabric, usually a worsted, with such stripes.[8][7]
  6. A very narrow margin or very small difference: a hairline between bravery and folly.[6][4]
  7. (archaic) A cord, such as a fishing line, made of hair.[6][2][9]

Adjective

  1. Very thin: a hairline moustache.[6][9]
  2. Decided by a very small difference; very close: a hairline decision.[6][4]
  3. Very precise: hairline accuracy.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Hairline.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/hairline. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·