Etymograph

English

head

Head comes from Old English hēafod ‘head’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘head’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-1‘head’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*káput1‘head’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haubudą1‘head’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haubud1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēafod1‘head’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heed1‘head’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1591head1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English head
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-Wiktionary, English head‘head’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*káputWiktionary, English head‘head’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haubudąWiktionary, English head‘head’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haubudWiktionary, English headreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēafodWiktionary, English head‘head’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heedWiktionary, English head‘head’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1591headWiktionary, English head. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:”

The story

The modern word comes from Old English oblique stem hēafd-; the expected Modern English outcome for hēafod would be *heaved (similar to the Middle English word).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with head, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *kap-

  • had ← hadde ← hæfde ← *habdaz ← *habjaną
  • case ← casse ← capsa ← *kapsos ← *kapjō
  • except ← excepter ← exceptus ← excipiō
  • cash ← caisse ← caissa ← capsa ← capiō
  • captain ← capitain ← capitaine ← capitāneus ← caput
  • catch ← cacchen ← cachier
  • accept ← accepten ← accepter ← acceptō ← capiō
  • receive ← receyven ← receivre ← recipere ← capiō
  • capacity ← capacite ← capacite ← capācitās
  • behavior ← behavoure
  • capable ← capābilis ← capiō ← kapiō ← *kapjō
  • achieve ← achieven ← achever

272 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of head

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haubidąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haubidreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haubida-‘main’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heed‘main’
  5. Englishtodayhead

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Today it means

noun The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “head”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kap- / head