Etymology

goatee

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Today it means: A beard trimmed to grow only at the center of the chin. Full definition →

English goat ← Middle English goot
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The story

  1. Middle Englishgoot
  2. Englishgoat
  3. English todaygoatee

From goat + -ee (diminutive suffix), referring to the tuft of hair on the chin of many domestic goats.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.