Where does “peppercorn hair” come from?
peppercorn hair (English) comes from English Hair, from Middle English hēr, from Old English hēr, from Proto-West Germanic *hēr, from Proto-Germanic hē₂r, from Proto-Indo-European ḱe, from Middle English kyt, from German kitt — to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,...
peppercorn hair (English): A hair texture which typically grows in tightly curled tufts, resembling peppercorns, characteristically found among Khoisan peoples
Definitions
- A hair texture which typically grows in tightly curled tufts, resembling peppercorns, characteristically found among Khoisan peoples
Ancestry of “peppercorn hair”, step by step
peppercorn hair traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Hair
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Hair | A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals |
| 2 | Middle English | hēr | a hair |
| 3 | Old English | hēr | at this place |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *hēr | here |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | hē₂r | here, in this place |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 7 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 8 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 9 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 10 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 11 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via English peppercorn
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | peppercorn | The seeds of the plant "Piper nigrum". Commonly... |
| 2 | English | corn | The main cereal plant grown for its grain in a... |
| 3 | Middle English | corn | Any plant that bears grain, especially wheat; a... |
| 4 | Old English | corn | corn, a grain or seed; a cornlike pimple, a corn... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | korn | corn, grain, cereal |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | kurną | corn, grain, cereal |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵr̥h₂nóm | grain |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵr̥h₂nós | matured, grown old |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵerh₂- | to grow old, to mature |