Overhead

How to spell overhead

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce overhead

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does overhead mean?

1. adverbIn or through the space above one's head; up in the sky or near the ceiling.
2. adjectiveSituated or operating in the space above, such as a fixture mounted near the ceiling.
3. nounThe ongoing running costs of a business, such as rent and utilities, that are not tied to a single product.

Overhead in a sentence

• adverb

  The plane circled overhead before landing.

• adjective

  The overhead lights buzzed quietly throughout the office.

• noun

  Working from home let her cut her monthly overhead sharply.

• adverb

  Storm clouds gathered overhead as we packed the car.

• adjective

  Passengers stowed their bags in the overhead compartment.

• noun

  The cafe struggled because rent pushed its overhead too high.

Where does overhead come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent native English compound, joining the preposition and prefix 'over', from Old English 'ofer' meaning 'above' or 'across', with 'head', from Old English 'heafod', the word for the top part of the body. Both halves trace back to Germanic roots, and the literal sense was simply 'above one's head', describing anything in the sky or up near the ceiling. The word is recorded in this spatial sense from the late Medieval period and stayed close to its plain, picture-like meaning for centuries. The accounting sense, meaning the ongoing running costs of a business, is a much later figurative extension dating from the nineteenth century: such costs were imagined as expenses carried 'over the head' of the main work, looming above it rather than tied to any single product. Because the spelling is just 'over' plus 'head' glued together with no awkward joins, the chief thing to remember is that it is one solid word, not 'over head' or 'overhed'.

How the word is built

• over- (above)
• head (the top, from Old English heafod)