bald

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb grow bald; lose hair on one's head
  2. adjective with no effort to conceal
  3. adjective lacking hair on all or most of the scalp

Etymology

From Middle English balled, ballid, bald (“bald”), of uncertain origin. Probably formed from Middle English bal, balle (“ball, round object, knoll, head”). Compare Old Danish bældet (“bald”). An alternate etymology has Old English bǣl (“fire, flame; funeral pyre”), from Proto-Germanic *bēlą. Compare Albanian balë (“white spot on the forehead”) and ballë (“forehead”).

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