Payot

Sidelocks in English, or pe'ot in Hebrew, anglicized as payot (Hebrew: פֵּאוֹת, romanized: pēʾōt, "corners") or payes (Yiddish pronunciation: [peyes]), is the Hebrew term for sidelocks or sideburns. Payot are worn by some men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the Tanakh's injunction against shaving the "sides" of one's head. Literally, pe'a means "corner, side, edge". There are different styles of payot among Haredi or Hasidic, Yemenite, and Chardal Jews. Yemenite Jews call their sidelocks simanim (סִימָנִים‎), literally, "signs", because their long-curled sidelocks served as a distinguishing feature in the Yemenite society (differentiating them from their non-Jewish neighbors).