Etymology Map
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Sideburns

3 stages from Scots to English.

Today it means strips of hair grown down the sides of a man's face

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

1
Stage 1 of 3
Burnside
Scots · medieval
"stream-side (surname)"
a place-surname, 'the side of the burn', burn being the Scots and northern word for a stream
2
Stage 2 of 3
burnsides
American English · 1860s
"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 of 3
sideburns
American English · 1880s
"hair on the side of the face"
the two halves were swapped, perhaps because the whiskers grow on the side of the face
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Read the full story

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.