Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “hardheaded” come from?

Hardheaded comes from English hard and English head, with the -ed suffix from Middle English, tracing through Proto-Germanic harduz and Proto-Indo-European kert- meaning to turn or bend.

hardheaded (English): Stubborn; wilful; Realistic; pragmatic

Definitions

  1. Stubborn; wilful; Realistic; pragmatic

Ancestry of “hardheaded”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishheadedOf a sheet of paper: having the sender's name,...
2EnglishheadThe part of the body of an animal or human which...
3English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
4Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
5Old English-iġ-y, -ic
6Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
7Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
8Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “hardheaded”

  • hardheadedness
  • hardheadedly
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →