Forehead
nounThe part of the face above the eyebrows and below the hairline.
How to spell forehead
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce forehead
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does forehead mean?
- nounThe part of the face above the eyebrows and below the hairline.
Forehead in a sentence
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She pressed a cool cloth against her feverish forehead.
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A deep frown line had formed across his forehead.
Where does forehead come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This is a native English compound, recorded in Old English as 'forheafod', built quite literally from 'fore', meaning 'in front', and 'heafod', the ancestor of the modern word 'head'. The first element 'fore' is the same prefix that survives in 'foremost', 'foresee' and 'forewarn', and it carries the plain sense of being at the front or ahead of something. The second part traces back to the Germanic root that gave English 'head' and is cognate with Dutch 'hoofd' and German 'Haupt'. So the word simply names the front part of the head, and it has kept that meaning unbroken for well over a thousand years. The spelling trap is purely modern: many people now say it as 'for-head', sounding the 'h', yet the older and still common pronunciation 'FOR-id' hides the silent 'h' and the 'head' inside the word, which is exactly why writers sometimes drop a letter.
How the word is built
- fore- (front, before)
- head (top of the body)
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