A goatee is a style of
facial hair incorporating hair on one's
chin but not the cheeks. The exact nature of the style has varied according to time and culture.
Description
Until the late 20th century, the term ''goatee'' was used to refer solely to a
beard
A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards.
Throughout the course of history, societal at ...
formed by a tuft of hair on the chin—as on the chin of a
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
, hence the term 'goatee'. By the 1990s, the word had become an
umbrella term used to refer to any facial hair style incorporating hair on the chin but not the cheeks; there is debate over whether this style is correctly called a goatee or a
Van Dyke Van Dyke, VanDyke or Vandyke is an Americanized or anglicized form of the Dutch language, Dutch-language toponymic surname ''Van Dijk'', ''Van Dijke'', ''Van Dijck'', or ''Van Dyck (surname), Van Dyck''. Meaning living near the dike.
Van Dyke, Van ...
.
History
The style dates back to
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
and
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
. The god
Pan was traditionally depicted with goat-like features, including a goatee. When
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
became the dominant religion and began copying imagery from
pagan myth,
Satan was given the likeness of Pan, leading to Satan traditionally being depicted with a goatee
in
medieval art and
Renaissance art.
The goatee would not enjoy widespread popularity again until the 1940s, when it became a defining trait of the
beatniks in the post-
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
United States. The style remained popular amongst the counter-culture until the 1960s before falling out of favor again. In the 1990s, goatees with incorporated mustaches became fashionable for men across all socioeconomic classes and professions, and have remained popular into the 2010s.
Gallery
File:Skeletal easter island statue.JPG, A Moai kavakava from Easter Island
File:Arnold Böcklin Faun e Amsel zupfeifend (1).JPG, Painting of Pan by Arnold Böcklin (1864–65)
File:Henry M. Hoyt cropped.jpg, Henry M. Hoyt (c. 1865–80)
File:Thomas Settle judge - Brady-Handy.jpg, Thomas Settle (c. 1865–80)
File:William H. Hunt - Brady-Handy.jpg, William H. Hunt (c. 1865–80)
File:Thomas Henry Carter cph.3b27384.jpg, Thomas Henry Carter (1909)
File:Benjamin Disraeli by Cornelius Jabez Hughes, 1878.jpg, Benjamin Disraeli (1878)
See also
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Beard
A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards.
Throughout the course of history, societal at ...
*
Moustache
A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history.
Etymology
The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ...
*
Sideburns
Sideburns, sideboards, or side whiskers are facial hair grown on the sides of the face, extending from the hairline to run parallel to or beyond the ears. The term ''sideburns'' is a 19th-century corruption of the original ''burnsides'', named ...
*
Soul patch
*
Van Dyke beard
References
External links
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{{Human hair
Beard styles