Sideburns, sideboards, or side whiskers are patches of facial hair grown on the sides of the face, extending from the hairline to below the ears. The term sideburns is a 19th-century corruption of the original burnsides, named after American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside, a man known for his unusual facial hairstyle that connected thick sideburns by way of a moustache, but left the chin clean-shaven. "Burnsides" became "sideburns" probably because of their location on the side of the face.