A towhead is a person, usually a child, with very light blonde hair that's almost white or pale yellow, like the color of straw or corn silk. The word comes from tow, which is the pale, fluffy fibers of flax or hemp that were once used to make rope and cloth.

If you've ever seen a little kid with hair so blonde it's nearly colorless in the sunlight, gleaming almost white-gold, that's a towhead. The term is usually affectionate and is used to describe young children whose hair may darken as they grow older. You might hear someone say, “When I was little, I was a real towhead, but by middle school my hair had turned brown.”

The word appears in classic American literature, including Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. While it's less common today than simply saying “blonde,” it's still used, especially in rural areas or when someone wants to emphasize just how light someone's hair is.