noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A small barb or beard.
2. 2
   Any of the secondary barbs that form a fringe of small projections on a feather.

Synonyms

All synonyms

antennabarbbarbelbarrelcat whiskercilium

Etymology

PIE word *bʰardʰéh₂ Borrowed from Latin barbula (“little beard”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.