soul patch
3
7.9
- noun
- /soʊl pætʃ/
:
parche del alma
- goatees and soul patches
- soul patch on his chin
- sports a soul patch
And Dmitri has a soul patch.
- And Dmitri has a soul patch.
Examples
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OK, now we're going to get rid of the soul patch too.
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The guy with the gray soul patch?
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That's my wife with the soul patch.
Blog text (2) -
How did your trademark mustache morph into a soul patch?
Blog text (5) -
He had a thick hammered-silver loop earring in his left ear and a dark soul patch under his lower lip.
Fiction book (2001) -
The actor's unique look was completed with a small soul patch below his lip.
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He decided to style his facial hair with a soul patch for a trendy appearance.
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The man at the coffee shop had a distinctive soul patch that caught everyone's attention.
How Hairy
Surface Forms
Morphology
soul + patch
The word 'patch' does cue a small spot, which could hint at a small area of hair, but 'soul' is an abstract/cultural label that gives no clear indication of facial hair or its location. The term is a conventionalized name for a specific beard style and the link between 'soul' and a tuft below the lip is arbitrary, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would likely not fully infer the meaning without exposure.
Etymology
Soul patch may come from jazz and soul musicians of the 1950s and 60s who often wore a small patch of hair just under the lower lip. Because that tiny patch was linked to their 'soul' style, the phrase now means a small patch of facial hair under the lower lip.