cowlick

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From cow +‎ lick; as the hair may appear to have been licked into place by a cow.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkaʊˌlɪk/
  • (US, regional) IPA(key): /ˈkælɪk/
  • Rhymes: (US, regional) -ælɪk

Noun

cowlick (plural cowlicks)

  1. An unruly lock or section of hair that sticks straight out from the skull or lies at an angle at odds with the rest of an individual's hair, like a whorl or vortex.
    Synonym: calflick
    • 2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:
      We would touch strangers discreetly, feathering down their cowlicks.

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