Whenever I used to visit the hairdresser as a teenager, I was inevitably greeted with the comment Mae gen ti wallt mor drwchus! (You have such thick hair!) as soon as the stylist touched my hair. Recently, however, I’m receiving more comments about the encroaching grey strands than anything else!
gwallt
hair
Soft mutation
wallt
Nasal mutation
ngwallt
Aspirate mutation
N/A
In Welsh, the word for the hair that covers a person’s head is the masculine noun gwallt. There are two possible plural forms – gwalltiau and gwalltach – but neither is particularly common. It is derived from the Proto-Brythonic *gwollt, which in turn comes from the Proto-Celtic *woltos.
Important:
If you are referring to an individual strand of hair rather than a whole head of hair, you need to use the noun blewyn (plural: blew). For example, Roedd blewyn ar y llawr would translate to There was a hair on the floor.
Gwallt also excludes the hair that grows on a person’s face. However, it can be used to describe an animal’s mane if it resembles human hair – think of a horse’s mane, for instance!
Hair can be any lliw (colour) these days, thanks to the use of lliw gwallt (hair dye). However, traditionally, people typically have one of the following colours:
- gwallt du = black hair
- gwallt brown = brown hair
- gwallt golau = blonde hair (literally “light hair”)
- gwallt coch = red hair
- gwallt gwyn = white hair
- gwallt llwyd = grey hair
When you visit the lle trin gwallt (hairdresser’s) to get a toriad gwallt (haircut), the first thing the triniwr gwallt (hairdresser) or barbwr (barber) will ask is what kind of steil gwallt (hairstyle) you’re looking for. Once you’ve chosen a style, they’ll likely brush your hair with a brws gwallt (hairbrush), and if you have longer hair, they might pin it up with a clip gwallt (hairclip). Essential tools for a hairdresser include a pair of siswrn (scissors) and a rasel (razor). If you pay extra, they may wash your hair with siampŵ (shampoo), spray it with some chwistrell gwallt (hairspray), and dry it with a sychwr gwallt (hairdryer).
Here are a few important verbs you will see used with gwallt:
- cribo’ch gwallt = to comb one’s hair
- brwsio’ch gwallt = to brush one’s hair
- golchi’ch pen / gwallt = to wash one’s hair
- sychu’ch gwallt = to dry one’s hair
- trwsio’ch / trefnu’ch gwallt = to do one’s hair
- colli’ch gwallt = to lose one’s hair
- cael torri’ch gwallt = to get one’s hair cut
While cael torri’ch gwallt (to get one’s hair cut) is the older, more formal expression and remains prevalent in the North, the alternative phrasing cael eich gwallt wedi’i thorri is increasingly common, particularly in the South.
Dw i eisiau cael torri fy ngwallt heddiw.
I want to get my hair cut today.
Dw i eisiau cael fy ngwallt wedi’i thorri heddiw.
I want to get my hair cut today.
Hair comes in various types and textures, from syth (straight) and tonnog (wavy) to cyrliog / crych (curly) and pigog (spikey). The length and volume of hair can also vary, from byr (short) and trwchus (thick) to hir (long) and tenau (thin). I personally suffer from gwallt seimlyd (oily hair), but others have the opposite problem, which is gwallt sych (dry hair).
If you happen to lose all your hair and become moel (bald), you may decide to wear a gwallt gosod (wig) or get a trawsblaniad gwallt (hair transplant). Those who still have some hair left may even opt for a gwallt to (combover).
Figuratively, gwallt can refer to the leafy tops and small twigs of a tree or bush, presumably due to their resemblance to a head of hair. It is also the word for the coma of a comet.
Idiomatic expressions featuring ‘gwallt’
(Digon i) godi gwallt eich pen chi
Literal translation: (enough to) raise your hair
English meaning: (enough to) make your hair stand on end
