goatee

goatee — noun

1. a style of facial hair where a man grows hair only on his chin, often trimmed to

1.nounB1
Definition

a style of facial hair where a man grows hair only on his chin, often trimmed to a narrow point

Example

Theo trimmed his goatee every morning before work to keep it neat.

collocation: trim a goatee

When Aiko's brother grew a goatee, their grandmother did not recognise him at first.

Common collocations
  • trim a goatee
  • grow a goatee
  • shave off a goatee
  • a neat goatee
  • a pointed goatee
Synonyms
  • chin beard

    more descriptive but less common than 'goatee'

  • Van Dyke

    a goatee combined with a trimmed moustache, with shaved cheeks

Antonyms
  • full beard

    hair covering the entire jaw and cheeks, not just the chin

Usage Note

Often modified by adjectives describing the appearance of the beard, such as 'neat', 'grey', 'pointed', or 'trimmed'.

Common Mistakes

He grew a goat beard.
He grew a goatee.
The correct English word for a chin-only pointed beard is 'goatee', not 'goat beard'.

Word family

  • goateed
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A 'goatee' is a specific facial-hair style that covers only the chin and is often trimmed to a narrow point. This sets it apart from a 'beard', which grows across the full jaw and cheeks. A 'mustache' grows only above the upper lip and involves no chin hair at all. 'Sideburns' grow down the sides of the face by the ears and never reach the chin. A 'Van Dyke' combines a goatee with a trimmed mustache — both have a pointed chin beard, but only the Van Dyke keeps hair above the lip. So if you see a pointed chin beard alone, it is a goatee; if it appears with a mustache, it is a Van Dyke.

beard ↗mustache ↗sideburnsVan Dyke

Common collocations

Nouns

  • goatee wearer
  • goatee style

Prepositions

  • with a goatee

Etymology

English

The word 'goatee' was formed in the 1840s by adding the suffix '-ee' to 'goat', because the chin beard resembles the hair hanging under a goat's chin.