We have blondes, brunettes and redheads.
But what is a black-haired lady referred to as?
Raven-haired, as in a raven-haired beauty.
And the ones who aren’t beautiful are simply black-haired?
They’re brunettes. Just a darker shade.
I always said brunette.
They’re all beautiful, in their own way.
This source Brunette says that the word is [from O.Fr. brunet “brownish, brown-haired, dark-complexioned,” fem. dim. of brun “brown” (12c.), of W.Gmc. origin].
So the word seems solidly rooted in brown rather than black.
And, according to this site (somewhat less scholarly than the earlier ref) the term should be Noirette.
That is not a bad suggestion, in my opinion.
The name of a woman who has black hair?
I know several. Guadalupe, Maria Estrella, Remy, Helen…
Why aren’t brunettes referred to as darker blondes, then? Quite a few brunettes are born with blond hair that darken over the years.
I’ve also heard raven-haired, which originates, I think, from the British Isles.
I’ve heard the term raven-haired, but I was unsure if this was a label used by other countries. I’ve only heard the term in the UK.
I’ve only heard raven-haired in particularly poetic descriptions. Normally it’s just “She has black hair.”
Cerie
I thought brunette included both brown and black hair, based both on what we were taught and on the usage I’ve seen. I’ve even occasionally met someone (always monolingual) who claimed it was to be used exclusively for black hair; these people were inevitably unable to tell me what to call those of us with dark-brown hair, some even told me I did have black hair (no I don’t, just look at me beside someone who actually does).
I never implied that the adjective “raven-haired” necessarily had anything to do with beauty, only that “raven-haired beauty” is a common (albeit somewhat old-fashioned) phrase.
Ooh, I like noirette! How do I go about having this term popularized?
For starters, you could slip a little sneak-bragging into every few posts about what a curse it is to be a striking noirette such as yourself…
It doesn’t appear that there is a noun form for every shade of hair. For instance, my own hair is now starting to show a preponderance of gray. My mother has completed the transition to snow white. Is she now a blanchette? Is there any noun for people with gray hair? (Other than old farts, of course.)
Surprisingly, “blackhead” never took off…
Because black hair isn’t actually, truly black- it’s just dark brown. I say this as someone with black hair, btw. Trust me, you stick this shit under the sun or a bright camera flash and it isn’t truly black. And yes, I dye my hair the darkest black dye in the salon.