Spot the Frippet: something glabrescent.

Filled with an urge to provide comfort and, yes, a little joy, I present to you the word glabrescent. It's a botanical term, but it is, I believe, ripe for wider application.

Glabrescent (you say it glayBRESSn't) means either nearly hairless, or - and this is the meaning that will, I trust, lighten the burden of many a poor man - becoming hairless at maturity.

Examples of the glabrescent include Extriplex californica:


Photo Anthony Valois and the National Park Service

Or, of course, something like this:



Glabrescence. A sign of maturity...

...well, it's a better way of looking at it than baldy or slap-head, isn't it.

Sopt the Frippet: something glabrescent. This word comes from the Latin glabrescere, to become smooth.