different between beardless vs awnless

English

Etymology

From Middle English b?rdl?s, from Old English beardl?as (“beardless”), from Proto-Germanic *bardalausaz (“beardless”), equivalent to beard +? -less. Cognate with Scots berdles (“beardless”), Saterland Frisian boartloos (“beardless”), West Frisian burdleas (“beardless”), Dutch baardeloos (“beardless”), German Low German baartlos (“beardless”), German bartlos (“beardless”).

Adjective

beardless (comparative more beardless, superlative most beardless)

1. Lacking a beard.
2. (by extension, of a male) Not having reached puberty or manhood; youthful.
   • 1596 Shakespeare, King John, Act 4, Scene 1

     shall a beardless boy,

     Cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields,

     And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil,

     Mocking the air with colours idly spread,

     And find no check?

3. Destitute of an awn.

   beardless wheat

4. (ornithology) Lacking a beard (a defined patch of feathers below the beak).

Derived terms

• beardlessness

Related terms

• beard
• bearded
• beardedness
• debeard

Translations

Anagrams

• breadless, dressable

English

Etymology

awn +? -less

Adjective

awnless (comparative more awnless, superlative most awnless)

1. Without awns or beard.

Synonyms

• beardless

References

• awnless in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914) , “awnless”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume I (A–C), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371.