skinhead
/ˈskɪn.hɛd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.68 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member of a subculture that arose among working-class youth in late 1960s England or its diaspora, defined by close-cropped or shaven heads and working-class clothing, and often associated with violence and white-supremacist or anti-immigrant principles.
Example Sentences
- "Their rules haven't changed: Skinheads are very young, mostly between the ages of 13 and 18, and they come from strictly working class backgrounds. They wear short‐ankled denims, T‐shirts, suspenders and heavy boots known as Bovverboots (Botherboots), and their hair is shorn to an eighth of an inch all over their skulls. They dance the Reggae, a West Indian shuffle, and they drink Coca Cola and they whip up riots at soccer games."
- "By the end of the show, fights would break out all over the place: the Atlantic City skins against the crew from Philly; the oldschool skinheads feuding with overzealous fresh-cuts."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kenH- Proto-Germanic *skinþąder. Middle English skyn English skin substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap-? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *káput Proto-Germanic *haubudą Old English hēafod Middle English heed English head English skinhead From skin + head.