kemp

/kɛmp/

kemp

English Noun Top 17,260

Definition

A coarse or bristly hair, whisker; (in the plural) knotty hairs that will not felt.

Etymology

From Middle English kempe (“coarse hairs”), from Old English cenep (“moustache; bit (of a bridle, bristling with points)”), from Proto-West Germanic *kanip, from Proto-Germanic *kanipaz (“beard, moustache, whiskers”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénus (“jaw”). Related to chin.