Mane

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /meɪn/

Definitions

1. A thick, long tuft of hair that encircles the neck of specific mammals, especially horses and lions
2. The long and often flowing hair growing from the back of the neck around the shoulder area of certain animals, notably large cats and equines
3. A prominent growth of hair that extends from the neck, commonly found in species such as lions and horses, serving various protective or display functions

Etymology: The hair along a horse's or lion's neck takes its name from the neck itself. Old English "manu" meant "mane," and it traces back to a Proto-Germanic root that is linked to the Proto-Indo-European "mony-" or "mon-," meaning "neck." The word therefore began as a description of where the hair grows rather than of the hair itself. The same root survives across the Germanic languages. Dutch has "maan" and "manen," German has "Mähne," and Danish, Swedish and Icelandic each have a cognate meaning horse's mane, showing that the word was already settled in this sense among the early Germanic peoples. In African-American Vernacular English, "mane" is also a dialectal rendering of "man," so the same word can be spelled and pronounced differently depending on who is speaking.

Synonyms: hair, tresses