3

Some people, when they grow up and become adults, tend to lose their hair on the sides of the forehead. What are these places called in English?

I've checked in my language dictionaries and I didn't find a translation for this word. In translation from my language these places are called "bays", but it seems that this term is not valid in English for the condition that I described above.

enter image description here

Improve this question
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

I'm not sure of a name for the "bays" of the head, but the hairline itself is referred to as a widow's peak. This idiomatic term has fairly old origins:

The term stems from the belief that hair growing to a point on the forehead – suggestive of the peak of a widow's hood – is an omen of early widowhood.

More general terms you can use are phrases like receding hairline to denote the hairline moving up one's head as they stop growing hair. As for terms for the "bays", something like bald patches or bald spots might be close to what you're looking for.

Improve this answer
10
  • 2
    I'll agree with receding hairline and bald spots – those are the two I was thinking of, though I figure bald spots typically refers to more of a spot on the top of your head – but I think widow's peak refers more to the hairline naturally coming to a V in the middle of the forehead and not so much that it happens to turn into a V after the hair on either side stops growing.
    – cjl750
    Jun 14, 2017 at 1:42
  • 1
    I agree with cjl750: "receding hairline" is a better description than "widow's peak". As the name implies, women relatively often have hair that grows to a widow's peak, while it is much less common for women to exhibit male-pattern baldness.
    – sumelic
    Jun 14, 2017 at 2:53
  • 2
    @sumelic You'll have to take it up the with our friends at Oxford, then: they define widow's peak as "A V-shaped growth of hair toward the center of the forehead, especially one left by a receding hairline in a man..
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Jun 14, 2017 at 3:25
  • 1
    @Catalouping (You might consider citing or linking to the Wikipedia entry you quote here...)
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Jun 14, 2017 at 3:35
  • 1
    @ P.E. Dant, interesting find in Oxford there for widow's peak. I still say they're wrong :)
    – cjl750
    Jun 14, 2017 at 18:18

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .