I've got straight, long, brown hair: adjective order (2025)

marcogaiotto said:

I've got straight, long, brown hair:
Hello! Are the adjectives put in the correct order? Thanks a lot in advance!

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This word order works for me.

An unusual alternative is: She has brown hair, long and straight.

Unusual, but sounds pretty good to me, especially with some other sentences with parallel structure.

She has brown hair, long and straight; blue eyes, light and direct; and a winning personality, cheerful and forthright.

Addendum: Crossed with Tuna, and Tuna's example sounds better than mine.

Here is a link to a PDF with a table of the ordinary order of adjectives: The Royal Order of Adjectives

The order of adjectives isn't set in stone, but that table provides a pretty good guide to the order in which native speakers are likely to arrange their adjectives. I would probably use the same order that tunaafi used in post #2.

Long, brown, straight hair also sounds ordinary to me. If straight was the characteristic of that hair that seemed most remarkable to the speaker, it would be normal to place that adjective right before the noun hair.

owlman5 said:

Here is a link to a PDF with a table of the ordinary order of adjectives: The Royal Order of Adjectives

The order of adjectives isn't set in stone, but that table provides a pretty good guide to the order in which native speakers are likely to arrange their adjectives. I would probably use the same order that tunaafi used in post #2.

Long, brown, straight hair also sounds ordinary to me. If straight was the characteristic of that hair that seemed most remarkable to the speaker, it would be normal to place that adjective right before the noun hair.

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I find that chart interesting. I always start my adjective list with the most notable trait.

So a man that was seven feet tall would start with "tall".

A tall, blond man with blue eyes.

If he had startling blue eyes and was of average height:

A blue-eyed man of average height with blond hair.

If he had purple hair.

A man with purple hair, of average height and with blue eyes.

Packard said:

I always start my adjective list with the most notable trait.

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This practice certainly seems reasonable to me, Packard. But it would sound unusual to me if you told me about a red little wagon that you had when you were a kid.

marcogaiotto said:

What about "long, brown, straight hair?"

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As I mentioned in post #4, Marco, I think that version sounds normal. It makes sense if straight is the characteristic of the hair that you find most remarkable.

tunaafi said:

I'd say long, straight, brown hair.

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kentix said:

"Long, straight brown hair" seems like the default order to me.

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Another vote in favour.

owlman5 said:

This practice certainly seems reasonable to me, Packard. But it would sound unusual to me if you told me about a red little wagon that you had when you were a kid.

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Still works.

Large red wagon, hauls coal.

Little red wagon, hauls kids:

marcogaiotto said:

I've got straight, long, brown hair:
Hello! Are the adjectives put in the correct order? Thanks a lot in advance!

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Don't try to do it. Three adjectives like that to one noun are a savage abomination. Write your way round it.

marcogaiotto said:

I've got straight, long, brown hair:

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Packard said:

This word order works for me.

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I find it fine too.

Thomas Tompion said:

Three adjectives like that to one noun are a savage abomination.

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Thomas Tompion said:

Don't try to do it. Three adjectives like that to one noun are a savage abomination. Write your way round it.

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I don't agree. I think you can work multiple adjectives into a quite reasonable sentence. I have two examples. I'm sure others can do an even better job of it. (Even I could do a better job if I spent more than five minutes on the pair of sentences.)

I have long hair. It's brown, straight and glistens in the sun; it is the envy of everyone I meet.

I have brown hair. It's long, and straight and glistens in the sun; it is the envy of everyone I meet.

You've rephrased, Packard. I think that's what Thomas Tompion was suggesting too.

The OP's question is about the order of those three adjectives (straight, long, brown) when they occur in front of the noun. I don't see why the question can't be answered as it stands. It's the sort of thing that crops up in test and exams, I imagine.

Definitely "long straight brown hair" is the correct order to use without commas.

All the other orders sound wrong unless you manipulate the sentence (several examples above) and with commas, you can sort of get away with any order, though it'll still be better if you put them in the standard ordering.

If one of the adjectives is being emphasized it can go first or last despite the normal order:

brown long straight hair or long brown straight hair. But if the emphasis isn't visible or audible, it'll just look like you got it wrong.

marcogaiotto said:

The English book says that, while describing hair, you usually say length, colour and style: Example: long, brown, wavy hair.

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This advice seems reasonable to me, Marco. Once again, there isn't any ironclad law of adjective order in English phrases. Instead, there are fairly reliable suggestions in different sources about the ordinary order of adjectives that people use when they string adjectives together in a phrase.

I don't think I'd necessarily say it that way. The presumption of that ordering list is that the adjectives are independent. But I'm not sure long and straight are independent. Long and straight have a natural affinity for each other. Even though they aren't the same thing, they frequently go together when it comes to hair.

Saying, "long brown straight" sounds like you're saying the same thing twice, in a way, when you separate them like that. To me, they are more natural together. "Long straight brown hair. Brown has nothing to do with long or straight and is awkward between them.

Short curly blonde hair.
Short blonde curly hair.

owlman5 said:

there isn't any ironclad law of adjective order in English phrases.

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That is very important, marco. If you Google order of adjectives, you will find many links to pages and sites. Look at half a dozen, and you will find that there is general overall agreement, but some of the lists give different orders. There are often possible variations.

I'd say long, straight, brown hair, but do not find straight, long brown hair. unnatural. Indeed, I'd accept other orders. Use the lists and charts as guidelines, not laws.

marcogaiotto said:

I had a look at the Royal Order, but "wavy" or "straight" don't belong to any categories (size, shape...)

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I think long/short easily qualifies for size and curly/wavy/straight easily qualifies for shape. Both come before color.

Well, I never knew there was a preordained order for adjectives.

I never heard of the Royal Order of Adjectives until this thread.

I figured that the Royal Order of Adjectives was somewhere between the Royal Order of Scotland and The Royal Order of the Crown of Hawaii (probably somewhere around Taiwan).

I've always been a "shoot from the hip" user of adjectives. If it sounds right, it is right.

Excuse me, now I have to leave and memorize a chart.

Packard said:

I never heard of the Royal Order of Adjectives until this thread.

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That is an awfully presumptuous title for that little table.

Packard said:

Excuse me, now I have to leave and memorize a chart.

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Have a good time!!!

That's the point, and a fascinating one it is. Native speakers don't have to consult a chart. They have an internal sense of the correct order. We are never taught that, yet we know it and there is overwhelming and overall consensus even if there is some quibbling about the details. The acceptable order is far from random.

The metal modernistic silver tall shiny beautiful large table is the centerpiece of the room.

kentix said:

That's the point, and a fascinating one it is. Native speakers don't have to consult a chart. They have an internal sense of the correct order. We are never taught that, yet we know it and there is overwhelming and overall consensus even if there is some quibbling about the details. The acceptable order is far from random.

The metal modernistic silver tall shiny beautiful large table is the centerpiece of the room.

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There is a silly child's joke that featured a "shiny metal chrome plated stainless steel pipe." I never once questioned the word order. And reading it now I would not change it.