Hirsute has nearly the same spelling and exactly the same meaning as its Latin parent, hirsutus. The word isn't quite one of a kind, though—it has four close relatives: hirsutism and hirsuties, synonymous nouns naming a medical condition involving excessive hair growth; hirsutal, an adjective meaning "of or relating to hair"; and hirsutulous, a mostly botanical term meaning "slightly hairy" (as in "hirsutulous stems"). The Latin hirsutus is also an etymological cousin to horrēre, meaning "to bristle." Horrēre gave rise to Latin horrōr-, horror, which has the various meanings of "standing stiffly," "bristling," "shivering," "dread," "consternation," and is the source, via Anglo-French, of our word horror. The word horripilation—a fancy word for goose bumps—is also a hirsute relation; its Latin source, horripilāre, means "to shudder," and was formed from horrēre and pilus ("hair").
wore a hirsute mask as part of his werewolf costume
Recent Examples on the WebThat last subplot will find the hirsute accordionist transforming first into John Wick, then into Rambo. John Defore, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2022 His lower limbs, like Pan’s, are goatishly hirsute. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2022 Mandico sets the stage via a chorus of overlapping narrators, their disembodied heads (and naked hirsute shoulders) floating in space: The atmosphere on After Blue is toxic to men, whose hair grew inward and killed them off. Peter Debruge, Variety, 3 June 2022 In my main feed and the app’s Explore and Reels tabs, Instagram was building a crescendo of shock: There were babies missing limbs, babies with bulging veins, babies with too-small heads, babies with too-big heads, even hirsute babies. Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post, 12 May 2022 The clip then transitions to a shot of a string quartet playing swelling chords as Cave’s hirsute collaborator, Warren Ellis, conducts them dramatically. Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 3 Feb. 2022 She’s wearing a halter and hot pants and sitting between two hirsute guys with big hair and beards. Zadie Smith, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2022 Acne also released a hirsute cow-print boot that almost hit the knee. Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 21 Jan. 2022 But the trailer for the film, which also showcases Jodie Comer and Adam Driver, displays a hirsute horror for the two consummate movie stars. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 14 Sep. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Latin hirsutus; akin to Latin horrēre to bristle — more at horror