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My dictionary lists `髭` as **moustache / beard** , but from the example
sentences in [WWWJDIC](http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MUE%E9%AB%AD), it seems like `髭` is more often used to mean
"beard" than "moustache" ?

So for example, in this sentence: `彼はもっと大人に見えるようにひげをはやした。`, is it clear to the
listener that the speaker wanted to say "He grew a _beard_ to look more
mature", and not "He grew _mustache_ to look more mature"? Or is it ambiguous
and it could mean either one?
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2011-08-01T14:36:22.627
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words definitions homonyms
Does 髭 refer to the beard or the moustache?
I think it's hard to tell since they're both read as `ひげ`.

But comparing to Chinese,

> 須(simplified) 鬚(traditional) (both read as xū) is used for beard.
>
> 髭(zī) is used for moustache.

If you look in the Japanese dictionary, ひげ has two kanji - 鬚 and 髭

The former corresponds to the Chinese word for beard, and the latter for
moustache.
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2011-08-01T15:20:46.807
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In a Japanese context, that distinction does not matter so much, and it can be
either. Since you are asking whether that Japanese word is ambiguous, I think
that you are biased to English mind. It is not that the word `髭` is ambiguous;
it is that a single concept in English does not match a single concept in
Japanese. This is similar to fingers vs. thumbs. English makes that
distinction, but Japanese does not. So there is no one-to-one correspondence.
You cannot say that the Japanese word `指` is ambiguous. It is simply that the
two languages segment the world into concepts in a different way.

But if you were to say which one is more typically called `髭`, then I would
say it is moustache. If you want to specifically refer to beard, you can say
`顎髭` 'chin-moustache/beard'.
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2011-08-01T16:30:43.307
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Your example says he grew facial hair. If it's a Japanese person, I would even
dare say that it unambiguously refers to a beard, since I haven't seen many
moustaches recently in Japan (beside mines), while I keep seeing guys
struggling to get a beard :)

The unambiguous words you can use are:

  * 顎鬚 chin beard
  * 鼻髭 moustache
  * 口髭 moustache
  * 山羊髭 goatee
  * 揉み上げ sideburns
  * 頬髭 whiskers
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2011-08-02T01:59:17.567
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I'm a Japanese native speaker. It's my impression that in the aforementioned
sentence 'hige' is very ambiguous, floating somewhere between beard and
mustache. To be honest I don't give much thought to the difference in
reading/hearing such a sentence.

I don't fully agree with the idea that 'hige' is more likely to indicate
mustache, although Sawa's explanation on the difference of range each language
can cover truly tally with my idea. In fact, aside from 'ago-hige', which as
shown in the comment denotes beard, we also have 'kuchi-hige', which means
mustache.

So let me put it this way: in saying 'hige', we tend to think that it's just
some amount of hair covering the part around our mouth, thick or sparse. In
order to indicate the particular part, you need 'kuchi-' or 'ago-' right
before 'hige'.
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2013-02-07T01:53:27.137
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