Why does Japanese have three kanji for “beard”?

English has one word, “beard,” for any facial hair. Japanese historically used three different kanji, each pinned to a location: 髭 is hair above the lip (a mustache), 鬚 is hair on the chin, and 髯 is hair on the cheeks. All three are read ひげ, and in casual writing today 髭 alone usually stands in for all of them — but the three-way split still shows up in dictionaries and in names.

The shapes in each character hint at the split: 此 in 髭 suggests something jagged and uneven, fitting the mustache sitting right under the nose; 須 in 鬚 pictures an old man’s drooping chin-hair; 冉 in 髯 draws soft hair hanging down on both sides. The clip describes Santa simply as having a white 髭 (白い髭があります) — technically closer to 鬚, since a full Santa beard covers the chin, but 髭 is the catch-all most people reach for.