<p>Generally speaking, hair that grows out of the top of your head is 髮(发), hair around a man's mouth is 鬍鬚(胡须), and hair in other parts of your body is 毛. 毛 is usually specified by the body part, e.g.</p>
<p>鼻毛 nostril hair，</p>
<p>腋毛 armpit hair，</p>
<p>睫毛 eye lash</p>
<p>胸毛 chest hair</p>
<p>眉毛 eye-brow hair</p>
<p>Note that 眉毛 can refer to individual eye-brow hair, or the whole eye-brow itself.</p>
<p>頭髮 is often used instead of just 髮</p>
<p>If you want to talk about individual white hair in your beard, it is 白鬍鬚（白胡须）。白发 or 白頭髮 is white hair on your head.</p>
<p>根 is the measure word for individual strands of hair.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-30T00:45:58.457Z
Is 胡须 used in China to mean beard and mustache?
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-30T02:30:06.237Z
I think "beard" is 胡须 & "mustache" is 胡子?
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-29T22:59:56.210Z
2021-09-29T23:05:13.110Z
2021-09-29T23:05:13.110Z
monalisa
<p>抱歉，您的表达有点问题。我无法理解你 “具体”想要表达什么。
对于胡子上面长的毛，我们一般称为“胡须”。
你可以这样使用： <strong>我的一些胡须已经变白了。</strong></p>
<p>量词，如果是很多，比如 四个以上，我建议 您 使用 “一些”，“有些”等量词。</p>
<p>祝您生活愉快！</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-29T13:00:44.493Z
2021-09-29T13:00:44.493Z
Humphrey Han
<p>The correction 一些白发已经出现了 is worse than what you were saying 一些白毛已经出现了, with references to the beard, or mustache. Although 毛 is rarely used to describe the hair around your lips or jaws, it is not completely out of line, but the use of 发 is.</p>
<p>The famous use of 毛 for such case is the old saying: &quot;嘴上無毛,做事不牢&quot;. Another saying that refers to 毛 as hair is &quot;毛頭小子. The former refers to the unreliability of a young person. The latter refers to the immaturity and inexperience of the young person.</p>
<p>However, while 毛 can mean the hair on head, such as 他頭上僅存的幾根毛..., 发 can't be used to describe any body hairs but on the head.</p>
<p>You can modify your sentence to &quot;我嘴上長出了一些(幾根)白毛&quot;. With referring to your mouth, I think the sentence is acceptable, although &quot;我嘴上長出了一些(幾根)白鬍子(鬚)&quot; is more proper and formal.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-30T02:18:27.447Z
2021-09-30T02:18:27.447Z
r13
<p>对于人体除了头发以外的毛发，中文一般“部位+毛”的形式来表达。不过，胡须是一个例外，我们一般就称之为胡子或者胡须，不用“毛”或者“发”。比如你所描述的情况通常就应该表达为“我长了一些白胡子”。
不过有时候我们也会用不加部位的“毛”这个字来开玩笑，比如你可以说你自己胡子里长了一些白毛，或者说你红头发的密友“长了一头红毛”。但是一般不用“发”来形容头发以外的毛发，开玩笑也不会用。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-01T09:46:30.170Z
2021-10-01T09:46:30.170Z
ly z
<p>I wanted to talk about individual white hairs in a beard. I was taught that individual hairs where always 毛。So I said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>一些白毛已经出现了</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was immediately corrected to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>一些白发已经出现了</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shall I discard the rule that I learned from my professor? Is there a better rule, which I can apply in its stead? Should 毛 perhaps be used only with the measure word 根？</p>

<word-choice>
Are individual white hairs 髮 or 毛？
# Are individual white hairs 髮 or 毛？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-09-29)

I wanted to talk about individual white hairs in a beard. I was taught that individual hairs where always 毛。So I said:

> 一些白毛已经出现了

This was immediately corrected to:

> 一些白发已经出现了

Shall I discard the rule that I learned from my professor? Is there a better rule, which I can apply in its stead? Should 毛 perhaps be used only with the measure word 根？

**Tags:** word-choice

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-09-29. Score: 5

Generally speaking, hair that grows out of the top of your head is 髮(发), hair around a man's mouth is 鬍鬚(胡须), and hair in other parts of your body is 毛. 毛 is usually specified by the body part, e.g.

鼻毛 nostril hair，

腋毛 armpit hair，

睫毛 eye lash

胸毛 chest hair

眉毛 eye-brow hair

Note that 眉毛 can refer to individual eye-brow hair, or the whole eye-brow itself.

頭髮 is often used instead of just 髮

If you want to talk about individual white hair in your beard, it is 白鬍鬚（白胡须）。白发 or 白頭髮 is white hair on your head.

根 is the measure word for individual strands of hair.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Is 胡须 used in China to mean beard and mustache?  
> **username_3**: I think "beard" is 胡须 & "mustache" is 胡子?  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2021-09-29. Score: 2

抱歉，您的表达有点问题。我无法理解你 “具体”想要表达什么。
对于胡子上面长的毛，我们一般称为“胡须”。
你可以这样使用： **我的一些胡须已经变白了。**

量词，如果是很多，比如 四个以上，我建议 您 使用 “一些”，“有些”等量词。

祝您生活愉快！


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### Answer by username_2 on 2021-09-30. Score: 1

The correction 一些白发已经出现了 is worse than what you were saying 一些白毛已经出现了, with references to the beard, or mustache. Although 毛 is rarely used to describe the hair around your lips or jaws, it is not completely out of line, but the use of 发 is.

The famous use of 毛 for such case is the old saying: "嘴上無毛,做事不牢". Another saying that refers to 毛 as hair is "毛頭小子. The former refers to the unreliability of a young person. The latter refers to the immaturity and inexperience of the young person.

However, while 毛 can mean the hair on head, such as 他頭上僅存的幾根毛..., 发 can't be used to describe any body hairs but on the head.

You can modify your sentence to "我嘴上長出了一些(幾根)白毛". With referring to your mouth, I think the sentence is acceptable, although "我嘴上長出了一些(幾根)白鬍子(鬚)" is more proper and formal.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2021-10-01. Score: 0

对于人体除了头发以外的毛发，中文一般“部位+毛”的形式来表达。不过，胡须是一个例外，我们一般就称之为胡子或者胡须，不用“毛”或者“发”。比如你所描述的情况通常就应该表达为“我长了一些白胡子”。
不过有时候我们也会用不加部位的“毛”这个字来开玩笑，比如你可以说你自己胡子里长了一些白毛，或者说你红头发的密友“长了一头红毛”。但是一般不用“发”来形容头发以外的毛发，开玩笑也不会用。


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