Word.ws English Dictionary

headword

/ˈhɛdwɜːd/US/ˈhɛdwɝd/

headword noun: a word (or compound term) used as the title of a list entry or section, particularly in a dictionary, encyclopedia, or thesaurus.

Noun

headword (plural headwords)

  1. A word (or compound term) used as the title of a list entry or section, particularly in a dictionary, encyclopedia, or thesaurus.
  2. The head of a phrase.
    • In "a very discerning car shopper", "shopper" is the headword.

Forms of headword

pluralheadwords
alternative formhead word

Origin of headword

From head + word. Compare West Frisian haadwurd (“noun, substantive, headword”), Dutch hoofdwoord (“headword”), German Hauptwort (“noun, substantive, headword”), Swedish huvudord (“headword, keyword”).

Words formed from headword

Questions about headword

What does headword mean?
Headword means a word (or compound term) used as the title of a list entry or section, particularly in a dictionary, encyclopedia, or thesaurus.
What part of speech is headword?
Headword is a noun.
How do you pronounce headword?
Headword is pronounced /ˈhɛdwɜːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of headword?
The plural of headword is headwords.

Words near headword in the dictionary

  1. headwinded
  2. headwinding
  3. headwinds
  4. headwings
  5. headwoman
  6. headword
  7. headwords
  8. headwork
  9. headworker
  10. headworkers
  11. headworks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: headword (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-headword.wav.

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