English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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.
    Coordinate terms: heading, head, subheading, subhead, rubric
    Hypernym: definiendum
    Hyponym: lemma
  2. (grammar) Any word which may be modified by an adjunct; often, the core noun of a noun phrase.
    Synonym: head
    In "a very discerning car shopper", "shopper" is the headword.

Translations

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See also

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