calvous

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calvous

/ˈkælvəs/ US, UK

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Latin calvus (“bald, hairless”) (of unclear origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥h₂wós or *kalw- (“bald; naked”), from a root *kl̥H- + *-wós (suffix forming adjectives from verb stems)) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting possession or presence of a quality).

adjective more calvous · most calvous

formal, rare Lacking most or all of one's hair; bald, hairless. Hubert had given me his passport, in great excitement. [...] Admittedly most old, bloated, calvous Germans could double for me, and even if he hadn't been doppelganger material, with the beard I had started growing and the two black eyes, you'd need x-rays to spot the difference.
Similar: glabrous · Opposite: hairy, hirsute, nonglabrous
rare Lacking bristles or pappuses. LXII. MORYSIA. Cass. / Achenium calvous, terete, furrowed, wingless. [...] Glabrous shrubs, with scattered oblong, dentate, or entire leaves, and corymbose yellow flowers: closely related to Athanasia, from which they differ in the calvous achenia.

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MLA

"calvous." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/calvous. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

calvous. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/calvous

Chicago

"calvous." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/calvous.

BibTeX

@misc{calvous_2026,
  title = {calvous},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/calvous},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}