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French beard and haircut vocabulary in pictures

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Name hair length, texture, colour and facial hair in French with twenty useful expressions, illustrated features and short description practice.

In short

Une barbe is a beard, une moustache a moustache, and une frange a fringe or bangs. For hair, use the plural les cheveux: Elle a les cheveux bouclés means she has curly hair. Combine a length, texture or colour with the feature you want to describe.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

Start with the part you can describe precisely: length, texture, colour or facial hair. A fringe is the hair cut across the forehead; a parting is the line that separates sections of hair. These are different details, so a person can have both a fringe and curly hair.

Four visible features

Length and arrangement

les cheveux courtsshort hairIl a les cheveux courts.
les cheveux longslong hairElle a les cheveux longs.
les cheveux mi-longsmedium-length hairSes cheveux mi-longs arrivent aux épaules.
une frangefa fringe / bangsSa frange couvre son front.
une raiefa parting / partElle a une raie au milieu.

Texture

les cheveux boucléscurly hairSes cheveux bouclés forment des boucles.
les cheveux lissesstraight, smooth hairIl a les cheveux lisses.
les cheveux onduléswavy hairElle a les cheveux ondulés.
les cheveux épaisthick hairIl a les cheveux épais.
les cheveux finsfine hairElle a les cheveux fins.

Colour

les cheveux noirsblack hairIl a les cheveux noirs.
les cheveux brunsdark brown hairElle a les cheveux bruns.
les cheveux châtainschestnut-brown hairIl a les cheveux châtains.
les cheveux blondsblond hairElle a les cheveux blonds.
les cheveux grisgrey hairSes cheveux sont gris.

Facial hair

une barbefa beardSa barbe couvre son menton.
une moustachefa moustacheIl a une moustache au-dessus de la lèvre.
des favorissideburnsSes favoris descendent devant ses oreilles.
un boucma goateeIl porte un bouc au menton.
une barbe tailléefa trimmed beardSa barbe est taillée court.

Why cheveux takes plural descriptions

French normally treats the hair on your head as les cheveux. Keep the describing adjective plural: courts, longs, bouclés or blonds. In Elle a les cheveux blonds, blonds describes cheveux, a masculine plural noun; it does not agree with elle. Un cheveu means one individual hair.

Il a les cheveux courts et une barbe taillée.

He has short hair and a trimmed beard.

Brun and châtain both describe shades of brown hair, with brun generally darker. Châtains is a masculine plural form agreeing with cheveux. Mi-longs keeps mi unchanged and makes longs plural. Use the whole expression when practising, so the article and agreement stay attached to the feature.

Question 1No account needed
Which word names hair across the forehead?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Une frange. Une frange is the fringe or bangs; une raie is a parting.

Question 2No account needed
What does les cheveux bouclés describe?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Curly hair. Bouclés describes curls in the hair.

Question 3No account needed
Why is blonds plural in Elle a les cheveux blonds ?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

It agrees with cheveux. Cheveux is masculine plural, so blonds agrees with it.

Question 4No account needed
Which feature is directly above the upper lip?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Une moustache. Une moustache grows above the upper lip.

For your own description, combine two visible details: Elle a les cheveux mi-longs et une frange. You can also combine length and texture: Il a les cheveux courts et bouclés. Keep both adjectives in the masculine plural because they describe cheveux.

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