Why is Edward Newgate called Whitebeard?


Why do they call him "Whitebeard"?

He doesn't even have a beard!

![Whitebeard](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yfoeG.jpg)




Edward Newgate's nickname in Japanese is Shirohige (shiro = white, hige =
facial hair). Japanese does not distinguish between beard and moustache1.
However, a literal translation _White Facial Hair_ sounds a pretty poor
nickname for one of the World's strongest pirates, and even sounds comedic.
Whitemoustache isn't much better either. Whitebeard has a nice ring to it.

Also, [fairy-tail](/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-
tail'")'s Lucy's nickname for the [Celestial Spirit
King](http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Celestial_Spirit_King) is "hige-oyaji"
(translated as moustache-man, in context), and he has only a moustache, which
suggests that "hige" is used to refer to both moustache and beard in Japanese.

* * *

1: Google Translate says that "Beard" is "Agohige", and "Moustache" is
"Kuchihige". However, they did not call him "Shirokuchihige" in the original,
so the distinction seems to be not widely used.




Edward Newgate's nickname in Japanese is Shirohige (shiro = white, hige =
facial hair). Japanese does not distinguish between beard and moustache1.
However, a literal translation _White Facial Hair_ sounds a pretty poor
nickname for one of the World's strongest pirates, and even sounds comedic.
Whitemoustache isn't much better either. Whitebeard has a nice ring to it.

Also, [fairy-tail](/questions/tagged/fairy-tail "show questions tagged 'fairy-
tail'")'s Lucy's nickname for the [Celestial Spirit
King](http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Celestial_Spirit_King) is "hige-oyaji"
(translated as moustache-man, in context), and he has only a moustache, which
suggests that "hige" is used to refer to both moustache and beard in Japanese.

* * *

1: Google Translate says that "Beard" is "Agohige", and "Moustache" is
"Kuchihige". However, they did not call him "Shirokuchihige" in the original,
so the distinction seems to be not widely used.

