glabrous

adjective

gla·​brous ˈglā-brəs 

: smooth

especially : having a surface without hairs or projections

glabrous skin

glabrous leaves

Did you know?

"Before them an old man, / wearing a fringe of long white hair, bareheaded, / his glabrous skull reflecting the sun's / light…." No question about it—the bald crown of an old man's head (as described here in William Carlos Williams's poem "Sunday in the Park") is a surface without hairs. Williams's use isn't typical, though. More often glabrous appears in scientific contexts, such as the following description of wheat: "The white glumes are glabrous, with narrow acuminate beaks." And although Latin glaber, our word's source, can mean simply "bald," when glabrous refers to skin with no hair in scientific English, it usually means skin that never had hair (such as the palms of the hands).

Examples of glabrous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Well, not spotted per se, but definitely glabrous and glaucous. —Murr Brewster, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Mar. 2024

Rather than bronzed and glabrous Malibu lifeguards, the striders here are Great Britain’s finest young (male) athletes readying themselves for the 1924 Olympics. —Martin Fritz Huber, Outside Online, 13 Dec. 2022

In 100 clean-shaven men direct measurement of the area of glabrous skin on the forehead and calvaria was found to be proportional to that of the hairy skin on the lips, cheeks, chin and neck. —Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 20 Nov. 2014

Word History

Etymology

Latin glabr-, glaber smooth, bald — more at glad entry 1

First Known Use

1640, in the meaning defined above

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Medical Definition

glabrous

adjective

gla·​brous ˈglā-brəs 

: having or being a smooth even surface

specifically : having or being an epidermal covering that is totally or relatively devoid of hairs or down

glabrous skin