Word of the Day

: August 17, 2009

trichologist

noun trih-KAH-luh-jist

What It Means

: a person who specializes in hair and scalp care; broadly : a person whose occupation is the dressing or cutting of hair

trichologist in Context

"You don't need to pay a trichologist or rely on hair-loss cure advertisements in magazines: your GP can conduct a series of blood tests to locate the problem." (David Fentonis, The Times [London], July 4, 2009)

Did You Know?

Although you can accurately call the person who cuts your hair your "trichologist" if you want to, the term is usually applied as it is in our example sentence: to someone who studies and treats hair and scalp ailments. The "trich" in "trichologist" is the Greek "trich-," stem of "thrix," meaning "hair." This root makes an appearance in a number of other similarly technical-sounding words, such as "trichiasis" ("a turning inward of the eyelashes often causing irritation of the eyeball"), "trichome" ("an epidermal hair structure on a plant"), and "trichotillomania" ("an abnormal desire to pull out one's hair").