Word.ws English Dictionary

-head

-head suffix: used to create nouns indicating a state; -hood.

Suffix (1)

-head (noun-forming suffix, uncountable)

  1. Used to create nouns indicating a state; -hood.

Suffix (2)

-head (noun-forming suffix, plural -heads)

  1. (derogatory, sometimes) Used to form words for people who regularly have their mind focused upon a particular subject, activity, or a specified drug or other substance, or who are addicted in some way.
    • motor + -head → motorhead
    • pot + -head → pothead
  2. Used to form words to describe people who are dedicated fans of something, especially music.
    • jazz + -head → jazzhead
    • metal + -head → metalhead
  3. (derogatory) Used with other words to form generic insults or epithets to indicate stupidity.
    • block + -head → blockhead
    • shit + -head → shithead

Forms of -head

plural-heads

Origin of -head

From Middle English -hed, -hede, attested from the 12th century, continuing a hypothetical Old English *-hǣdu (“-hood”), from Proto-Germanic *haidį̄ (“state, condition”), related to Proto-Germanic *haiduz (“manner, character, quality, state”). Doublet of -hood, which see.

Combining form of head (noun).

Words formed from -head

Questions about -head

What does -head mean?
-head means used to create nouns indicating a state; -hood.
What part of speech is -head?
-head is a suffix.

Words near -head in the dictionary

  1. -gyny
  2. -gyre
  3. -h
  4. -h-
  5. -ham
  6. -head
  7. -heads
  8. -hedra
  9. -hedral
  10. -hedron
  11. -hedrons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -head (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “-head.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-head. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.