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Glite Dictionary
towhead

towhead

1 8.8
A person, often a child, with very light blond hair
  • noun
  • /ˈtoʊˌhɛd/
translation icon : rubio
  • I'm so used to them that I sometimes think I see the lieutenant better now than when I actually did see him thirty years ago: a towhead with high cheekbones and a face that looked like it had been dusted with fine golden flour.
  • a little towhead

Examples

  • In spite of his Italian name, Mike had been a towhead since birth.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • When they arrived at the famous dream, they found a little girl, a towhead about eight years old, standing just this side of it.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Outside, Lewis picked the boy up, the towhead, the astonished baby whose face, Lewis could see now, was still sweet and small as an egg.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • And he did, a first son, never sick, and then two more, the last a towhead with thick curls covering his forehead.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Just to see her do what I knew she would: look from Alvie's exotic blackness to my own towhead and freckles and back again.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • All were white, and most were towheads with a sprinkling of freckles across their noses, the kind of kid Norman Rockwell loved to paint.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The little towhead played happily in the sand at the beach.

  • At the playground, I noticed a towhead child climbing up the slide.

  • Everyone admired the towhead girl with the bright blue eyes.

Synonyms

blond
vstowhead
47 1.0

A person with light-colored hair

is about very light hair, often referring to a child
blondie
vstowhead
  • Informal
9 4.0

A person with light yellow hair

is used more for very light hair in children rather than adult females
blond person
vstowhead
1 1.0

A person with light yellow or pale gold hair

focuses on very light hair in children and not on skin tone

Antonyms

brunette
3 2.1

Having dark brown or black hair

How Light

towhead
1 8.8
blond
176 1.0

Surface Forms

towhead singular
towheads plural

Morphology

towhead = tow + head (semi-transparent) = tow + head

Formed as a compound tow + head where 'head' is clear but 'tow' (meaning flaxen fiber/light-colored hair) is archaic or rare, so the meaning is only partially obvious to learners.

Etymology

The word towhead comes from tow meaning 'flax', the pale short fibers used to make 'linen', and head meaning 'head' or the top part of the body. So, a towhead is someone, often a child, with very light blond hair.