Etymology

blackhead

B3L1A1C3K5H4E1A1D2

Today it means: A type of comedo, a skin blemish, a type of acne vulgaris, where a pore becomes clogged with a dark, hard, cheesy keratin-filled substance forming a hard black "head" on the skin's surface. Full definition →

English head ← Middle English heed ← Old English hēafod
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*blakaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*blak
  3. Old Englishblæc
  4. Middle Englishblak
  5. Englishblack
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kap-?
  7. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*káput
  9. Proto-Germanic*haubudą
  10. Old Englishhēafod
  11. Middle Englishheed
  12. Englishhead
  13. English todayblackhead

From black + head.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.