Payot (also
pe'ot,
peyot,
payos,
peyos,
peyois,
payois; ; ) is the
Hebrew word for sidelocks or sidecurls.
Payot are worn by some men and boys in the
Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the
Biblical injunction against shaving the "corners" of one's head. Literally,
pe'ah means "corner, side, edge". There are different styles of
payot among
Haredi,
Yemenite, and
Hasidic Jews. Yemenite Jews call their sidelocks
simonim , literally "signs", because their long-curled sidelocks served as a distinguishing feature in the Yemenite society (differentiating them from their non-Jewish neighbors).