hairball

hairball

English

Etymology

hair +‎ ball

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

hairball (plural hairballs)

1. A small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.
2. (slang, figuratively) A messy, tangled, intractable issue.

   The contract negotiations are turning into a real hairball.

Synonyms

• bezoar

Translations

wad of fur

Catalan: bola de pèl f Chinese: Mandarin: 毛團／毛团 (zh) (máotuán) Dutch: haarbal (nl) m Esperanto: bezoaro Finnish: karvakerä French: aegagropile (fr) m German: Fellknäuel n Hungarian: köpet (hu) Italian: borra f Japanese: 毛玉 (ja) Norwegian: hårball Polish: zakłaczenie f, kłak (pl) m Portuguese: pricobezoar m, bola de pelo f Spanish: bezoar m

intractable issue

Esperanto: kaĉo (eo) Spanish: peludo (es) m, tema peludo m

Anagrams

• ballhair