sideburns

Where does the word "sideburns" come from? It comes from Scots Burnside, passing through American English before entering English (1880s).

Sideburns’s story begins in Scots: Burnside meant “stream-side (surname).” A place-surname, 'the side of the burn', burn being the Scots and northern word for a stream. By 1860s, the word had taken hold in American English as burnsides. After Ambrose Burnside, the Union general defeated at Fredericksburg in 1862, famous for bushy whiskers joined to his moustache above a shaved chin. It reached English by 1880s as sideburns. The two halves were swapped, perhaps because the whiskers grow on the side of the face. Today, sideburns means strips of hair grown down the sides of a man's face.

1. Stage 1 · Scots · medieval Burnside "stream-side (surname)", a place-surname, 'the side of the burn', burn being the Scots and northern word for a stream.
2. Stage 2 · American English · 1860s burnsides "side whiskers", after Ambrose Burnside, the Union general defeated at Fredericksburg in 1862, famous for bushy whiskers joined to his moustache above a shaved chin.
3. Stage 3 · American English · 1880s sideburns "hair on the side of the face", the two halves were swapped, perhaps because the whiskers grow on the side of the face.