redhead

/ˌrɛdˈhɛd/

/ˈrɛdhɛd/

Other forms: redheads

A redhead is a person with red hair. Although sometimes it looks more like orange, “orangehead” isn’t a thing. Only about one percent of the entire population is a real redhead. In England, a redhead is “ginger” haired.

Redheads come in many different varieties, from bright red dyed hair to coppery auburn and strawberry blond. Many natural redheads have pale skin that burns easily in the sun and light-colored eyes. The word redhead has been used to mean someone with red hair since at least the 13th century. Even today, kids are sometimes teased for being redheads, but in the Middle Ages, red hair could mark you as a witch or a vampire.

Definitions of redhead

1. noun

   someone who has red hair
   synonyms: carrottop, red-header, redheader

   type of:

   individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul

   a human being
2. noun

   black-and-white North American woodpecker having a red head and neck
   synonyms: Melanerpes erythrocephalus, redheaded woodpecker

   type of:

   pecker, peckerwood, woodpecker

   bird with strong claws and a stiff tail adapted for climbing and a hard chisel-like bill for boring into wood for insects
3. noun

   North American diving duck with a grey-and-black body and reddish-brown head
   synonyms: Aythya americana

   type of:

   duck

   small wild or domesticated web-footed broad-billed swimming bird usually having a depressed body and short legs