kahl

From Middle High German kal (inflected kalwe), from Old High German kalo, chalo, from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“naked, bald”), from Proto-Indo-European *gelH- (“naked, bald”). The form kahl (instead of *kalb) is based on the Middle High German uninflected stem. However, the lengthened vowel points to influence by varieties that reduce -lw- to -l- even in open syllables; these include Middle Low German kāl (inflected kāle). See the same development in fahl. Cognate with Dutch kaal, English callow, and further Italian calvo, Russian голый (golyj, “nude”), Persian کل‎ (kal), Romanian chel.

• IPA^(key): /kaːl/

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -aːl
• Homophone: Karl (some speakers)

kahl (strong nominative masculine singular kahler, comparative kahler, superlative am kahlsten)

1. bald, hairless
2. (figurative, of land etc.) barren, bleak, empty, stark, bland

• Now used chiefly in the figurative sense or of portions of the skin: eine kahle Stelle (“a bald spot”). Of persons one more commonly says kahlköpfig or glatzköpfig (both literally "bald-headed"). Even more usual is the expression er hat eine Glatze (literally “he has a bald head”).

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• “kahl” in Duden online
• “kahl” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache