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Origin and history of -head

-head

word-forming element meaning "state or condition of being," Middle English -hede, from a variant of Old English -had, the source of -hood. The only surviving words with it are maidenhead and godhead.

Entries linking to -head

godhead(n.)

c. 1200, "divine nature, deity, divinity," from god + Middle English -hede (see -head). Along with maidenhead, the sole survival of this form of the suffix. Old English had godhad "divine nature." Parallel form godhood is from early 13c., now chiefly restricted to "state or condition of being a god."

maidenhead(n.)

"virginity (of a woman), condition of a maiden," c. 1200, from maiden (n.) + Middle English -hede (see -head). Compare Middle English maidehede "celibacy, virginity" (of men or women), literally "maid-hood," from Old English mæðhad.

-hood

word-forming element meaning "state or condition of being," from Old English -had "condition, quality, position" (as in cildhad "childhood," preosthad "priesthood," werhad "manhood"), cognate with German -heit/-keit, Dutch -heid, Old Frisian and Old Saxon -hed, all from Proto-Germanic *haidus "manner, quality," literally "bright appearance," from PIE (s)kai- (1) "bright, shining" (Cognates: Sanskrit ketu "brightness, appearance"). Originally a free-standing word (see hade); in Modern English it survives only in this suffix.

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    kerchief
    "square piece of fabric folded and worn about the head," early 13c., kovrechief "piece of cloth used to cover part of the...head," especially a woman's head-cloth or veil, from Anglo-French courchief, Old French couvrechief "a kerchief," literally..."cover head," from couvrir "to cover" (see cover (v.)) + chief "head" (from Latin caput "head," from PIE root *kaput- "head...From late 14c. as "piece of cloth used about the person" generally, for purposes other than covering the head; and from c...
    chieftain
    early 14c., cheftayne "ruler, chief, head" of something, from Anglo-French chiefteyn, Old French chevetain "captain, chief..., leader," from Late Latin capitaneus "commander," from Latin capitis, genitive of caput "head" (from PIE root *kaput- "head...Now mostly poetic or archaic; in "Rob Roy" (1818) a Highland chieftain was the head of a branch of a clan, a chief was the...head of the whole name....
    capsize
    anything) topsy-turvy;" a nautical word of obscure origin, perhaps (as Skeat suggests) from Spanish capuzar "to sink by the head...," from cabo "head," from Latin caput "head" (from PIE root *kaput- "head")....For sense, compare French chavirer "to capsize, upset," faire capot "capsize;" Provençal cap virar "to turn the head."...
    cabbage
    caboche "head" (in dialect, "cabbage"), from Old French caboce "head," a diminutive from Latin caput "head" (from PIE root...*kaput- "head")....The comparison of a head of cabbage to the head of a person (usually disparaging to the latter) is at least as old as Old...French cabus "(head of) cabbage; nitwit, blockhead," from Italian capocchia, diminutive of capo....
    chief
    c. 1300, "head, leader, captain; the principal or most important part of anything;" from Old French chief "leader, ruler,...head" of something, "capital city" (10c., Modern French chef), from Vulgar Latin *capum, from Latin caput "head," also "...leader, chief person; summit; capital city" (from PIE root *kaput- "head")....The meaning "head of a clan" is attested from 1570s; it was later extended to headmen of Native American tribes (by 1713;...
    poll
    c. 1300 (late 12c. as a surname), polle, "hair of the head; piece of fur from the head of an animal," also (early 14c.)..."head of a person or animal," from or related to Middle Low German or Middle Dutch pol "head, top."...A poll tax, literally "head tax," is from 1690s....Literal use in English tends toward the part of the head where the hair grows....
    occipital
    "of, on, or in the back of the head," 1540s, from French occipital, from Medieval Latin occipitalis, from Latin occiput (...the skull," from assimilated form of ob "in the way of, against," here with a sense of "in back of" (see ob-) + caput "head..." (from PIE root *kaput- "head")...."back of the head" and occipiciale (n.) "occipital bone."...
    hail
    salutation in greeting, c. 1200, from Old Norse heill "health, prosperity, good luck," or a similar Scandinavian source, and in part from Old English shortening of wæs hæil "be healthy" (see health; and compare wassail). The interj. hail is thus an abbreviated sentence expressin
    scruple
    "moral misgiving, pang of conscience," late 14c., scrupul, from Old French scrupule (14c.), from Latin scrupulus "uneasiness, anxiety, pricking of conscience," also, literally, "small sharp stone," a diminutive of scrupus "sharp stone or pebble," used figuratively by Cicero for a
    goosebumps
    also goose-bumps, "peculiar tingling of the skin produced by cold, fear, etc.; the sensation described as 'cold water down the back'" [Farmer], 1859, from goose (n.) + bump (n.). So called because the rough condition of the skin during the sensation resembles the skin of a plucke

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