noun, feminine/mɛʃ/plural: mèches
wick (of candle); fuse (of a bomb); lock, tuft (of hair); streak (of colour, etc., in hair); packing; drill bit
“Mes cheveux, coupés au hasard, tombaient par mèches sur mes épaules, et l'homme en chapeua à trois cornes les époussetait doucement avec sa grosse main.” — My hair, cut at random, fell in clumps on to my shoulders, and the man in the tricorn hat brushed them away softly with his fat hand.
Inherited from Old French mesche, from Late Latin *micca or Vulgar Latin *mysca, alteration of Latin myxa (“sebesten tree”).