Meaning & use
pubic hair
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountabletechnicalmedical
The short, curly hair that grows on the genitals of adults after puberty.
Grammar: Uncountable, so it has no plural and takes a singular verb: pubic hair is normal.
Patterns
- pubic hair grows
- lose pubic hair
- shave pubic hair
Pubic hair usually starts to grow during puberty.
Some people shave their pubic hair for personal or cultural reasons.
The doctor explained that a change in pubic hair can be a sign of a hormone problem.
nouncountabletechnicalmedical
A single strand of this hair.
Grammar: Countable when you mean one individual hair: a pubic hair, two pubic hairs.
Patterns
- a pubic hair
- find a pubic hair
She found a single pubic hair on the hotel towel.
A stray pubic hair had stuck to the soap.
Common combinations
- pubic hair growth
- Pubic hair growth is one of the first signs of puberty.
- pubic hair removal
- The clinic offers pubic hair removal using laser treatment.
- shave pubic hair
- He decided to shave his pubic hair before the swimming competition.
- pubic hair loss
- Sudden pubic hair loss should be checked by a doctor.
- pubic lice
- Pubic lice attach themselves to pubic hair.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pubes
- An informal, slightly more colloquial word for the same hair; it can also mean the genital area itself, so it is less precise in medical writing.
- crotch hair
- Very informal and vague; it refers to the general area rather than specifically to the hair, so it is not a medical term.
Word family
- pubic adjective
- Relating to the lower front part of the pelvis; used in medical terms such as pubic bone.
- pubis noun
- The technical name for the pubic bone, the front part of the pelvis.
Commonly confused: pubic hair or public? pubic hair or puberty?
pubic hair vs public
Public means 'open to everyone', while pubic relates to the genital area. The spelling difference is only one letter, so check carefully: public transport, pubic hair.
pubic hair vs puberty
Puberty is the stage of growing up when the body changes; pubic hair is one of the changes that happens during puberty.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'pubic hair' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Pubic hair' refers to the hair that grows on the genitals, so it is correct to say it grows during puberty. Option An and D confuse it with 'public', and option C describes brushing head hair, not pubic hair.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pubic hair”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.