Meanings
plural hairballs
- A trichobezoar; a small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.
Synonyms: furball
- figurativelyslangA messy, tangled, intractable issue.
The contract negotiations are turning into a real hairball.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA trichobezoar; a small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna compact mass of hair that forms in the alimentary canal (especially in the stomach of animals as a result of licking fur)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Catalan bola de pèl
- bola de pèlwad of fur
Chinese Mandarin 毛團 /毛团
- 毛團 /毛团 (máotuán)wad of fur
Dutch haarbal
- haarbalwad of fur
Esperanto bezoaro, kaĉo
- bezoarowad of fur
- kaĉointractable issue
Finnish karvakerä
- karvakeräwad of fur
French égagropile
- égagropilewad of fur
German Fellknäuel, Haarballen
- Fellknäuelwad of fur
- Haarballenwad of fur
Hungarian köpet
- köpetwad of fur
Italian borra
- borrawad of fur
Japanese 毛玉
- 毛玉wad of fur
Norwegian hårball
- hårballwad of fur
Polish zakłaczenie, kłak
- zakłaczeniewad of fur
- kłakwad of fur
Portuguese pricobezoar, bola de pelo
- pricobezoarwad of fur
- bola de pelowad of fur
Spanish bezoar, peludo
- bezoarwad of fur
- peludointractable issue
- tema peludointractable issue
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
hairball. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hairball
“hairball.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hairball. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hairball,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hairball.
Source: hairball on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.