People with light-colored hair, typically pale yellow or golden; the color itself.
From Old French 'blond,' possibly from Frankish 'blund' or from Latin 'flavus' (yellow). The term appeared in English by the 15th century to describe hair color.
Blond hair is actually a genetic rarity—only 2% of the world's population is naturally blonde, which is why historical legends and fairy tales from Northern Europe feature so many blonde characters; it was genuinely unusual and striking.
Blonde/blond gendering: French 'blond' (male) vs. 'blonde' (female). English inherited the gendered distinction, often used to define women by hair color in reductive ways (bombshell trope, intelligence stereotyping). The feminine form became a noun ('she's a blonde') more than the masculine.
Use 'blond' (gender-neutral spelling) for all people. Avoid using hair color as primary descriptor of women without equivalent information for men.
["blond-haired","with blond hair"]
Women's appearance has been disproportionately documented and catalogued by physical traits; men's appearance descriptions remain subordinate to other attributes in professional and historical contexts.
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