The Bald Eagle Is Not Bald
Baldy is an informal word for a bald person. The bald eagle has a full head of white feathers, and bald once meant white-marked.
Baldy is an informal, usually teasing word for someone without hair. The adjective behind it once meant marked with white rather than hairless, which is why the bald eagle — a bird with a thick cap of white feathers — is not misnamed at all. *Piebald* keeps the older sense exactly: patched with white.
- A bald person (informal). *All right, baldy.*
- Bald — without hair. *A bald head.*
- Plain or blunt. *A bald statement of fact.*
- Bald eagle — white-headed, not hairless. *The bald eagle.*
- Piebald — patched with white. *A piebald horse.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | baldy | Hello, baldy. |
| Adjective | bald | Going bald. |
| Comparative | balder | Balder than before. |
| Abstract | baldness | Male pattern baldness. |
| Related | piebald | A piebald pony. |
- He started going bald at twenty-five.The condition.
- A bald statement, with no explanation.Plain and unadorned.
- The bald eagle has white head feathers.The older sense of bald.
Bald in other senses
- Bald statement — plain and unsoftened
- Bald tyre — worn smooth, with no tread
- Baldly — bluntly: *put baldly, it failed*
- Piebald and skewbald — horse markings, from the same white sense
- Bald-faced — shameless, as in a bald-faced lie
Middle English *balled*, probably from a root meaning white or shining, seen in *piebald*. The -y form is an informal nineteenth-century diminutive.
Why is the bald eagle called bald?
Because bald once meant marked with white. The bird's white head, not a lack of feathers, gave it the name.
What does piebald mean?
Patched in black and white. Skewbald is the same idea with white and any colour other than black.