cabelludo

Forms

cabelludo (feminine cabelluda, masculine plural cabelludos, feminine plural cabelludas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *capillūtus (“hairy”), an adjective formed in spoken Latin on capillus (“hair”) with the suffix -ūtus.^[2][1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of cabello, so that it can equally be read as from Spanish cabello + -udo, a formation that Wiktionary also gives as the surface analysis.^[3][4][1]

The same Latin adjective is continued by Catalan cabellut, Portuguese cabeludo, Occitan cabelut, French chevelu and Italian capelluto.^[2][1][5] The 13th century already has Old Galician-Portuguese cabeludo.^[1][6]

The Latin noun itself is of uncertain origin: De Vaan finds the usual derivation from caput (“head”) hard to defend both in form and in meaning, since a diminutive “little head” is an unlikely source for “hair”.^[7] Wiktionary still calls it apparently a diminutive formed on the root of the word for “head”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel cites the word from the vocabulary of the 14th-century Crónica troyana, a secondary record.^[8] The first text that can be checked is a Salamanca book of Recetas (remedies) of about 1491–1500, which uses it twice.^[9] Autoridades quotes Laguna's Dioscorides for the same sense, of a plant: Syrian spikenard is best when fresh, light and mui cabellúdo “very hairy”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1729) defined the word as “having much hair, long and thick”, and noted that Covarrubias had already recorded it under cabello.^[10] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 added the sense of a fruit or plant covered with long downy threads, which the DLE still gives.^[11][12] The edition of 1899 first sent the reader to the phrase cuero cabelludo “scalp”, which is today the commonest use of the word.^[13][14] Boyd-Bowman's first record of cuero cabelludo from the Americas is from Medellín, in 1896.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – DEMel lists the word from the vocabulary of the Crónica troyana.^[8]
• c. 1491–1500 – a book of Recetas in Salamanca uses cabelludo twice.^[9]
• 1729 – Autoridades defines it as “having much hair, long and thick”.^[10]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the sense of a downy fruit or plant.^[11]
• 1896 – cuero cabelludo is recorded in Medellín, Colombia.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary first refers to the phrase cuero cabelludo.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. hairy, having a lot of hair, often long hair: Llegó un chico cabelludo con una guitarra.^[12][1]
2. (botany) Of a fruit or plant: covered with long, downy threads.^[12][14]

Related words

• capilar
• cabellera
• Latin capillus
• Portuguese cabeludo

Usage notes

The set phrase cuero cabelludo means “scalp”.^[12][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1391
3. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 710
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cabello
5. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 13
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cabeludo
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cabelludo
9. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. cabelludo
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 16
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 152
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. cabelludo
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 165
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cabelludo
15. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. cabelludo