hair follicle

noun

Updated on: 7 Apr 2018

Definition of hair follicle

: the tubular epithelial sheath that surrounds the lower part of the hair shaft and encloses at the bottom a vascular papilla supplying the growing basal part of the hair with nourishment — see hair illustration

See hair follicle defined for kids

Recent Examples of hair follicle from the Web

Fibrous scar tissue can develop around and within the old hair follicle.

— meghan overdeep, Southern Living, "WATCH: What Your Hair Is Trying to Tell You About Your Health," 29 Mar. 2018
Mainly the overproduction of oil; blocked hair follicles that don't allow the aforementioned oil to leave the pore, which often results in a clogged pore; and the growth of bacteria inside the hair follicles called P. acnes.

— carly cardellino, Cosmopolitan, "13 Surprising Reasons You Keep Breaking Out," 20 Feb. 2018
The cause: This is basically inflammation of the hair follicle.

— mona gohara, Good Housekeeping, "7 Common Scalp Issues — And How to Treat Them," 13 Mar. 2018
Each hair follicle on the breasts has been carefully placed and measured.

— steve heisler, Chicago Reader, "Sarah Squirm's comedy celebrates her body in all its oozing, disgusting glory," 7 Mar. 2018
They were covered with tiny freckle-size dots of blood trapped under the skin at the hair follicles.

— lisa sanders, m.d., New York Times, "A Painful Bruise Wouldn’t Heal. It Took Several Hospital Visits to Discover Why.," 28 Feb. 2018
Researchers at Japan's Yokohama National University used a chemical found in the fries to grow hair follicles on mice.

— editors, USA TODAY, "Spoiler alert: The Winter Olympics will be so wintry," 6 Feb. 2018
Crime scenes and criminals are covered with hair follicles, droplets of blood and now, in the 21st century, data from smart devices.

— alex horton, Washington Post, "She wore the weapon in a photo with a friend — then killed her with it," 18 Jan. 2018
Even more surprising, that bottom layer developed hair follicles and sweat glands, Koehler said.

— shari rudavsky, Indianapolis Star, "IU research may lead to solution to hairy problem for patients with burn injuries," 8 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hair follicle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of hair follicle

1838

Medical Dictionary

hair follicle

noun

medical Definition of hair follicle

: the tubular epithelial sheath that surrounds the lower part of the hair shaft and encloses at the bottom a vascular papilla supplying the growing basal part of the hair with nourishment