- A word, phrase, or name, usually set in boldface or other distinctive type, that serves as the heading for an entry in a dictionary, encyclopedia, or similar reference work. Also called entry word.
- Grammar. A word that may be modified by an adjunct.
headword
Dictionary:
head·word (hĕd'wûrd')  |
n.
| WordNet: entry word |
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
the form of a word that heads a lexical entry and is alphabetized in a dictionary
Synonyms: citation form, main entry word
| Wikipedia: Headword |
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Look up headword in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
See also: Lemma (linguistics)
A headword, head word, lemma, or sometimes catchword is the word under which a set of related dictionary or encyclopaedia entries appears. The headword is used to locate the entry, and dictates its alphabetical position. Depending on the size and nature of the dictionary or encyclopedia, the entry may include alternative meanings of the word, its etymology and pronunciation, compound words or phrases that contain the headword, and encyclopedic information about the concepts represented by the word.
For example, the headword bread may contain the following (simplified) definitions:
- Bread
- (noun)
- (verb)
- To coat in breadcrumbs
- — to know which side your bread is buttered to know how to act in your own best interests.
The Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian contains around 500,000 headwords. The Oxford English Dictionary has around 300,000 headwords [1], while Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary has about 470,000 [2]. Both of these values are as claimed by the dictionary makers, and may not be using exactly the same definition of a headword. Also, the Oxford English Dictionary covers each word much more exhaustively than the Third New International.
The term 'lemma' comes from the practice in Greco-Roman antiquity of using the word to refer to the headwords of marginal glosses in scholia; for this reason, the Ancient Greek plural form is sometimes used, namely lemmata (Greek λῆμμα, pl. λήμματα).
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| Translations: Headword |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - titelord, opslagsord
Nederlands (Dutch)
lemma, trefwoord, titelwoord, eerste woord van hoofdstuk etc.
Français (French)
n. - entrée, adresse
Deutsch (German)
n. - Stichwort
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (τυπογρ.) κεφαλίδα, λήμμα λεξικού
Italiano (Italian)
lemma, prima parola di un paragrafo
Português (Portuguese)
n. - palavra (f) ou frase (f) que encabeça
Русский (Russian)
слово в начале главы, вокабула
Español (Spanish)
n. - encabezamiento
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - uppslagsord
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
标题字
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 標題字
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) رأسيه تعلو السطور الأولى من الصفحه, عنوان فصل من فصول كتاب, كلمه للتصدير أو التمهيد
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - מילה שהיא כותרת, למשל, ערך מילוני
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Headword". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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