face fungus
- noun
- /feɪs ˈfʌŋɡəs/
- Slang
- She teased him about trimming his wild face fungus before the family photo.
Examples
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Movember is the perfect excuse to grow out your face fungus for a good cause.
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Do you think my face fungus makes me look older?
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He showed up for the meeting with some impressive face fungus covering his jaw.
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He proudly sports a thick face fungus.
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He showed up for the meeting with some impressive face fungus covering his jaw.
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Movember is the perfect excuse to grow out your face fungus for a good cause.
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Do you think my face fungus makes me look older?
Synonyms
Hair that grows on a man's or an animal's chin, cheeks, and jaw
Hair that grows above the upper lip and is often kept trimmed
Hair that grows on the face, like a beard or mustache
Short stiff hairs on a man's face after a few days without shaving
Hair that grows on a man's cheeks and chin
Facial hair that grows thick along the jaw and down the cheeks
Hair that grows on a person's upper lip often called a mustache
How Hairy
Surface Forms
Morphology
face + fungus
The compound combines 'face' and 'fungus' in a humorous, metaphorical way that signals some kind of growth on the face, so a learner can guess it refers to something on the face but not specifically to beard or mustache. Because the metaphorical use of 'fungus' (implying growth or uncleanliness) does not straightforwardly map onto the common, neutral category 'facial hair', the meaning is only partially derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Face fungus is a funny, informal name that may come from the idea of hair on the face growing like a small fungus or patch of mold. So, that picture helps explain why people use it to mean 'facial hair' like a beard or mustache.