beard
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
beard¹
- /bɪəd/ UK
- [bɪːd] UK
- /bɪɹd/ US
- /biɚd/ US
- /bɜː(ɹ)d/ obsolete
Sounds like beared (cheer–chair merger) · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)d, -ɪː(ɹ)d
Where it comes from
From Middle English berd, bard, bærd, from Old English beard, from Proto-West Germanic *bard, from Proto-Germanic *bardaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰeh₂, *bʰh₂erdʰeh₂.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots beird (“beard”), Yola bearde (“beard”), North Frisian biard (“beard”), Saterland Frisian Boart (“beard”), West Frisian burd (“beard”), Bavarian Bårt (“beard”), Dutch baard (“beard”), German Bart (“beard”), German Low German and Luxembourgish Baart (“beard”), Vilamovian biöt (“beard”), Yiddish באָרד (bord, “beard”), Icelandic barð (“brim; edge, ridge”), Norwegian Bokmål bart (“moustache”), Norwegian Nynorsk bard, barde (“edge, rim”), bart (“moustache”), Crimean Gothic bars (“beard”); also Latin barba (“beard”), Latvian bārda (“beard”), Lithuanian barzda (“beard”), Belarusian барада́ (baradá, “beard”), Bulgarian and Macedonian брада́ (bradá, “beard; chin”), Czech, Slovak, and Slovene brada (“beard”), Russian and Ukrainian борода́ (borodá, “beard”), Serbo-Croatian бра́да, bráda (“beard”). Doublet of barb.
noun beards
- Facial hair on the chin, cheeks, jaw and neck.
- The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds. At this moment the cock began to play; he stuck out his beard, trailed his wings down by his legs, and made, with great solemnity and wavelike motions of his neck, a few steps forward on the branch, while he stuck up his tail and spread it out like a big wheel.
- The appendages to the jaw in some cetaceans, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes.
- The byssus of certain shellfish.
- The gills of some bivalves, such as the oyster.
- The hairs of the labial palpi of moths and butterflies.
- The long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn. the beard of grain
- Long, hairlike feathers that protrude from the chest of a turkey. While all toms—adult male turkeys—have beards, nearly 10 percent of hens also have one, albeit a much stubbier, wispier version.
- A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument, projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily drawn out.
- The curved underside of an axehead, extending from the lower end of the cutting edge to the axehandle.
- That part of the underside of a horse's lower jaw which is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle.
- That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face.
- A fake customer or companion; an intermediary. To get his way, Roberts employed a bit of developer's cunning: rather than approach Galardi directly, he sent a friend, Alan Meyers, as a “beard”.
- One who helps to conceal infidelity in a monogamous relationship by acting as a cover. What are you talking about, I should be the beard? I don't wanna be a beard.
- A woman who accompanies a gay man, or a man who accompanies a lesbian, in order to give the impression that the person being accompanied is heterosexual. One could also speculate that Linda also served as Cole's shield (or "beard") against his possibly being disinherited by his disapproving (of sissies) millionaire grandfather and doting mom, both of whom wanted him to be a lawyer.
verb beards · bearding · bearded
- To grow hair on the chin and jaw.
- To boldly and bravely oppose or confront, often to the chagrin of the one being bearded. Robin Hood is always shown as bearding the Sheriff of Nottingham.
- To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt.
- To deprive (an oyster or similar shellfish) of the gills.
- Of bees, to accumulate together in a beard-like shape.
- Of a gay man or woman: to accompany a gay person of the opposite sex in order to give the impression that they are heterosexual. Lesbians and homosexual men bearding one another (i.e. providing each other with the public appearance of being heterosexual); […]
Beard²
Where it comes from
Originally a nickname for someone with a beard.
proper noun
- A surname transferred from the nickname.
- An unincorporated community in Warren Township, Clinton County, Indiana, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States, named after Josiah Beard.
- A suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, named after ex-convict Timothy Beard.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: byssus, face fungus, whiskers, goatee, moustache, stubble, hair, shave, goat, blanket, cover, barb, boring, candy, silk, pain
Translations
Every language
noun opposite-sex companion of a gay person
| Español | jotera, pantalla, tapadera |
|---|---|
| Kiswahili | ndevu |
| Deutsch | Alibifreundin |
| Italiano | appuntamento di copertura |
| Русский | ча́йка čájka, борода́ borodá |
noun facial hair
| Español | barba |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 수염 suyeom, 턱수염 teoksuyeom |
| 日本語 | 顎鬚 agohige, 顎髭 agohige, 鬚 hige |
| 中文 | 鬍子 /胡子 húzi, 鬍鬚 /胡须 húxū |
| हिन्दी | दाढ़ी dāṛhī, दाढी dāḍhī |
| Kiswahili | ndevu |
| Português | barba |
| Français | barbe |
| Deutsch | Bart |
| Italiano | barba |
| Ελληνικά | γένι géni, γενειάδα geneiáda |
| Română | barbă |
| Русский | борода́ borodá, брада́ bradá |
| Tiếng Việt | râu |
| العربية | لِحْيَة liḥya, ذَقْن ḏaqn |
| עברית | זָקָן zakán |
verb to grow hair on the chin and jaw
| Español | barbar, embarbecer |
|---|
verb bravely oppose — see also provoke, mortify
| Română | înfrunta, sfida |
|---|---|
| Русский | смело выступа́ть против smelo vystupátʹ protiv |
Talk about this word "beard." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/beard. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. beard. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/beard "beard." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/beard.Cite this
@misc{beard_2026,
title = {beard},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/beard},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
