Word.ws English Dictionary

headling

headling noun: an equal; a fellow; mate.

Noun

headling (plural headlings)

  1. (obsolete, rare) An equal; a fellow; mate.
  2. (obsolete, rare) A chieftain.

Adverb

headling (not comparable)

  1. Headlong; precipitately.

Forms of headling

Noun
pluralheadlings
Adverb
alternative formheadlings

Origin of headling

From Middle English hedling, hevedling, from Old English hēafodling (“an equal, fellow-servant”), equivalent to head + -ling. Cognate with German Häuptling (“chief, chieftain”). Piecewise doublet of chefling and chiefling.

From Middle English hedling, heedling, hevedlynge (“headlong”), equivalent to head + -ling. Cognate with Scots heidlingis (“headlong”), Middle High German houbetlingen (“headlong”).

Words formed from headling

Questions about headling

What does headling mean?
Headling means an equal; a fellow; mate.
What part of speech is headling?
Headling can be a noun or an adverb.
What is the plural of headling?
The plural of headling is headlings.

Words near headling in the dictionary

  1. headliner
  2. headliners
  3. headlines
  4. headlinese
  5. headliney
  6. headling
  7. headlings
  8. headlinier
  9. headliniest
  10. headlining
  11. headliny

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: headling (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.

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