hairline

Word family

• hair
  nounA1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Hairline (the border where hair grows on the forehead) is a neutral anatomical term. A widow's peak is a specific V-shaped dip in the centre of the hairline — a distinctive pattern rather than a general border. A receding hairline is not a fixed feature but a process: it describes a hairline that is gradually moving backward over time, commonly associated with male pattern baldness. You can have a naturally high hairline without it receding, but a receding hairline always implies change. Hair is a broader term for the strands themselves; your hairline is the line they grow from, not the hair itself. For example: 'His hair is long, but his hairline is high' and 'She has a widow's peak, not a receding hairline.'

Common collocations

Etymology

Hairline is a compound word formed from 'hair' (from Old English hǣr) and 'line' (from Old English līne, which traces back through Germanic to Latin linum, meaning flax thread). The word first appeared in the mid-1800s and originally referred only to the edge of hair on the forehead. By the early 1900s the meaning had extended metaphorically to describe any mark as thin as a strand of hair — giving rise to the adjective sense used in 'hairline crack.'