Meaning & use
fair skin
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Meaning
noununcountable
Skin that is naturally light in color and burns easily in strong sun.
Grammar: No article before it: say 'fair skin', not 'a fair skin'; use 'has' or 'with' to connect it to a person.
Patterns
- have fair skin
- with fair skin
- fair skin and light eyes
Because she has fair skin, she always wears a hat at the beach.
People with fair skin should use a high-factor sunscreen.
His fair skin turns pink after only ten minutes in the sun.
Common combinations
- have fair skin
- Both my sisters have fair skin like our mother.
- fair skin and blue eyes
- The baby was born with fair skin and blue eyes.
- protect fair skin
- Doctors advise you to protect fair skin from strong midday sun.
- naturally fair skin
- She has naturally fair skin that never tans.
- fair-skinned
- Fair-skinned children need sunscreen even on cloudy days.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pale skin
- Use 'pale skin' when the skin looks lighter than usual, often because of illness or fear, rather than as a natural coloring.
- light skin
- A neutral, factual term common in medical and scientific writing; 'fair skin' is more everyday and often suggests sensitivity to sun.
Opposites
Word family
- fair-skinned adjective
- Having light skin that burns easily.
- fair adjective
- Light in color, used of hair or skin.
- fairness noun
- The quality of being light in color (less common than the 'justice' meaning).
Commonly confused: fair skin or fare? fair skin or fair-haired?
fair skin vs fare
'Fare' is the money you pay for a trip; 'fair' here means light in color. They sound the same in British English.
fair skin vs fair-haired
'Fair-haired' describes light-colored hair, not skin; a person can be fair-haired but have darker skin.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'fair skin' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Fair skin' is uncountable, so it takes no article and no plural: 'has fair skin'. Option A wrongly adds 'a', option C makes it plural, and option D uses 'is' where a verb like 'has' is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fair skin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.