hairball

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hairball

Where it comes from

From hair + ball.

noun hairballs

A trichobezoar; a small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.
Similar: furball
figuratively, slang A messy, tangled, intractable issue. The contract negotiations are turning into a real hairball.

Similar: bezoar

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: bezoar

Translations

Every language

noun wad of fur

Español	bezoar
日本語	毛玉
中文	毛團 /毛团 máotuán
Português	pricobezoar, bola de pelo
Français	égagropile
Deutsch	Fellknäuel, Haarballen
Italiano	borra

noun intractable issue

Español	peludo, tema peludo

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{hairball_2026,
  title = {hairball},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hairball},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}