Meanings
nounheadword (plural headwords)
plural headwords · alternative head word
- A word (or compound term) used as the title of a list entry or section, particularly in a dictionary, encyclopedia, or thesaurus.
- grammarThe head of a phrase.
In "a very discerning car shopper", "shopper" is the headword.
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From head + word. Compare West Frisian haadwurd (“noun, substantive, headword”), Dutch hoofdwoord (“headword”), German Hauptwort (“noun, substantive, headword”), Swedish huvudord (“headword, keyword”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian загла́вна ду́ма
- загла́вна ду́ма (zaglávna dúma)word used as the title of a section
Catalan entrada
- entradaword used as the title of a section
Chinese Mandarin 標題字 /标题字, 字頭 /字头
- 標題字 /标题字 (biāodìzì)word used as the title of a section
- 字頭 /字头 (zìtóu)word used as the title of a section
- 詞頭 /词头 (cítóu)word used as the title of a section
Dutch trefwoord
- trefwoordword used as the title of a section
Esperanto kapvorto
- kapvortoword used as the title of a section
Finnish hakusana, pääsana
- hakusanaword used as the title of a section
- pääsanaword modified by an adjunct
- jälkiosaword modified by an adjunct
French mot vedette, vedette
- mot vedetteword used as the title of a section
- vedetteword used as the title of a section
German Stichwort, Schlagwort
- Stichwortword used as the title of a section
- Schlagwortword used as the title of a section
- Stichpunktword used as the title of a section
Hungarian címszó, főtag
- címszóword used as the title of a section
- főtagword modified by an adjunct
- alaptagword modified by an adjunct
- fejword modified by an adjunct
Irish ceannfhocal
- ceannfhocalword used as the title of a section
Italian voce
- voceword used as the title of a section
Japanese 見出し語
- 見出し語 (midashigo)word used as the title of a section
Korean 표제어
- 표제어 (pyojeeo)word used as the title of a section
Latvian šķirklis
- šķirklisword used as the title of a section
Māori kupu matua
- kupu matuaword used as the title of a section
Norwegian Bokmål oppslagsord
- oppslagsordword used as the title of a section
Polish hasło, nadrzędnik
- hasłoword used as the title of a section
- nadrzędnikword modified by an adjunct
- wyraz nadrzędnyword modified by an adjunct
Portuguese entrada
- entradaword used as the title of a section
Romanian cuvânt-titlu
- cuvânt-titluword used as the title of a section
Russian загла́вное сло́во
- загла́вное сло́во (zaglávnoje slóvo)word used as the title of a section
Scottish Gaelic ceannfhacal
- ceannfhacalword used as the title of a section
Spanish lema, entrada
- lemaword used as the title of a section
- entradaword used as the title of a section
- palabra principalword used as the title of a section
- palabra capitalword used as the title of a section
- palabra cefálicaword used as the title of a section
- palabra encabezadaword used as the title of a section
- palabra de cabezaword used as the title of a section
- lexíaword used as the title of a section
- pieza léxicaword used as the title of a section
Swahili kidahizo
- kidahizoword used as the title of a section
Swedish uppslagsord, stickord
- uppslagsordword used as the title of a section
- stickordword used as the title of a section
Ukrainian заголо́вне сло́во
- заголо́вне сло́во (zaholóvne slóvo)word used as the title of a section
Welsh prifair
- prifairword used as the title of a section
Cite this entry
APA
headword. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/headword
MLA
“headword.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/headword. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “headword,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/headword.
Source: headword on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.