18 February 2013

hirsute

[hur-soot, hur-soot]

adjective

1. hairy; shaggy.
2. Botany, Zoology . covered with long, rather stiff hairs.
3. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of hair.

Origin:
1615–25; < Latin hirsūtus rough, shaggy, bristly; akin to horrid

Related forms
hir·sute·ness, noun
sub·hir·sute, adjective
sub·hir·sute·ness, noun

Synonyms
1. pilose, unshaved, bearded, bushy, woolly, furry

Today’s aphorism

‘‎30 years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird’.

– Anne Lamott

On this day

18 February 1294 – death of Kublai Khan, of the Mongol Empire. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan. In 1271, Kublia Khan established the Yuan Empire ruling over modern-day Mongolia, China and Korea. He became the first non-Chinese Emperor to conquer all of China. He was born on 23 February 1215.