Wiktionary

beardless

English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English bērdlēs, from Old English beardlēas (“beardless”), from Proto-West Germanic *bardalaus (“beardless”), equivalent to beard +‎ -less. Cognate with Scots berdles (“beardless”), Saterland Frisian boartloos (“beardless”), West Frisian burdleas (“beardless”), Dutch baardeloos (“beardless”), German Low German baartlos (“beardless”), German bartlos (“beardless”).

Pronunciation edit

  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Adjective edit

beardless (comparative more beardless, superlative most beardless)

  1. Lacking a beard.
  2. (by extension, of a male) Not having reached puberty or manhood; youthful.
    • 1596, Shakespeare, King John, Act 4, Scene 1:
      shall a beardless boy,
      Cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields,
      And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil,
      Mocking the air with colours idly spread,
      And find no check?
  3. Destitute of an awn.
    beardless wheat
  4. (ornithology) Lacking a beard (a defined patch of feathers below the beak).

Derived terms edit

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