If somebody asks me "which one is Jack?" for example, can I say "the dark one" to refer to him if he has black hair like I could "the blond one" for someone with blond hair?
1 Answer
No, at least in American English. It would be interpreted as potentially being a reference to skin color (and, at least in the US, rude).
The equivalent of "blond" is "brunette" for someone with dark hair, and "red-headed" (or, colloquially, "ginger") for someone with red hair. Those are all words specific to hair color. So instead, you would say:
"Which one is Jack?"
"The brunette."/"The one with brown hair."/"The dark-haired one."
"Brunette" does tend to be applied more to women than to men; "brunet" would theoretically be the masculine, but it's basically never used.
"Light" and "dark", however, would be assumed to refer to skin unless "-haired" was specified, such as "light-haired" or "dark-haired".
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1How can you tell 'brunette' is sometimes used for men or boys, instead of 'brunet'? I assume the difference is hard to hear, so do some people use 'brunette' for men/boys in writing? Also, isn't brunet/brunette exclusively for brown hair, not black?– ŘídícíCommented Oct 14, 2022 at 20:10
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Yes, from writing—when spoken, there's not a distinction in English. (The AP, which determines newspaper style, has decided to circumvent the whole thing by saying that "brown-haired": agilitypr.com/pr-news/public-relations/…). Yes, brunette would cover brown hair—if someone has black hair, you could say "black-haired" or "person with black hair". Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 15:23