Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “headstrong” come from?

Headstrong comes from Middle English heedstrong, meaning stubborn or willful, though the exact sense development of its formation remains unclear.

headstrong (English): Determined to do as one pleases, and not as...

Definitions

  1. Determined to do as one pleases, and not as...

Ancestry of “headstrong”, step by step

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

Words derived from “headstrong”

  • headstrongness
  • headstrongly
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →