A stubborn tuft or lock of hair that stands up or grows in a different direction than the rest, difficult to comb flat.
From 'cow' + 'lick,' supposedly because a calf that has licked a cow's hair leaves it standing in a particular way. The exact origin is unclear, but the compound emerged in American English by the early 1800s, possibly as a folk etymology.
Nobody really knows why we call it a cowlick—some say it's from calves licking cows' coats, others say it's just a colorful folk phrase, but what we do know is that the term stuck and now everyone understands this annoying hair problem!
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