Looking messy, untidy, or having messy hair and wrinkled clothes.
From Old French 'descheveler' meaning 'to mess up hair,' combining 'des-' (reverse) and 'chevel' (hair) from Latin 'capillus.' It originally described specifically tangled hair but expanded to mean overall messiness.
This word comes directly from hair chaos—'chevel' is hair in Old French! The British spell it 'dishevelled' with double-L, showing how the word traveled through languages and picked up different spelling rules.
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