wool
Definitions
General English
- noun long threads of twisted animal hair, used to make clothes or carpets etc.
- noun the hair growing on a sheep
Agriculture
- noun soft curly hair, the coat of the domesticated sheep. Wool is also produced by goats and rabbits.
Slang
- noun the female pubic hair
- noun women considered as potential sexual partners. Used in this sense the term is a vulgarism, particularly among middle-aged males.
Origin & History of “wool”
Wool goes back to Indo-European *wlnā́, which also produced Latin lāna (source of English lanolin (19th c.)), Czech vlna, polish wełna, and Welsh gwlān (probable source of English flannel). In prehistoric Germanic it had become *wullō, which evolved into German wolle, Dutch wol, Swedish ull, Danish uld, and English wool.
