Graypate

/ˈɡreɪpeɪt/ noun

Definition

An older person with gray hair; a gray-haired individual (archaic or dialectal term).

Etymology

Compound of 'gray' and 'pate' (meaning head, from Middle English 'pat' referring to the crown of the head). The term is archaic, used historically in English literature.

Kelly Says

This wonderfully weird old word shows how people used to combine body parts with colors to describe age—'graypate,' 'whitehead'—before we just said 'elderly person' and lost all the poetic specificity!

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