hair shirt

H h

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hair shurt]
- /hɛər ʃɜrt/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hair shurt]
- /hɛər ʃɜrt/

Definitions of hair shirt words

noun hair shirt a garment of coarse haircloth, worn next to the skin as a penance by ascetics and penitents. 1
noun hair shirt self-imposed punishment, suffering, sacrifice, or penance. 1
countable noun hair shirt A hair shirt is a shirt made of rough uncomfortable cloth which some religious people used to wear to punish themselves. 0
countable noun hair shirt If you say that someone is wearing a hair shirt, you mean that they are trying to punish themselves to show they are sorry for something they have done. 0
noun hair shirt a shirt made of haircloth worn next to the skin as a penance 0
noun hair shirt a secret trouble or affliction 0

See all 8 definitions of hair shirt

Information block about the term

Origin of hair shirt

First appearance:

before 1350

One of the 20% oldest English words

1350-1400; cf. hair

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Hair shirt

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Hair shirt

hair shirt popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 42% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 60% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

hair shirt usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for hair shirt

noun hair shirt

self-flagellation — the act or process of flagellating.
self-hatred — the feeling of one who hates; intense dislike or extreme aversion or hostility.
self-punishment — the act of punishing.

All 3 Synonyms of hair shirt