Etymology

crackhead

C3R1A1C3K5H4E1A1D2

Today it means: A person who is addicted to or regularly uses crack cocaine. Full definition →

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

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gerh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gerg-
  3. Proto-West Germanic*krakōn
  4. Old Englishcracian
  5. Middle Englishcrakken
  6. Englishcrack
  7. Proto-Indo-European*kap-?
  8. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*káput
  10. Proto-Germanic*haubudą
  11. Old Englishhēafod
  12. Middle Englishheed
  13. Englishhead
  14. English todaycrackhead

From crack + -head. First sense appears c. 1978. Second sense appears c. 1977 in Best Canadian Stories.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.