blonde

A word that the English language borrowed from French to describe a hair color that is traditionally described as "fair" or "flaxen" in English. Blonde is a light hair color, ranging from light brown/dark blond to the tow headed platinum blonde. "Blond" is used in French to refer to a fair-haired man and "blonde" is used for a fair-haired woman. Blondes are stereotyped (often unfairly) as being sexually promiscuous and/or unintelligent. Since fair hair first appeared, many darker-haired peoples have imitated it... thus leading to fair and red hair being associated with prostitutes in some cases. The origins of the "dumb blonde" stereotype are not very clear, but it could be that the hair of many blondes turns darker as they grow and mature, and thus fair hair is associated with youth and childhood, and thus with innocence and naïveté.