headword

/ˈhedwɜːd/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈhedwɜːrd/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈhed-ˌwərd/ (ame, mw)

headword — noun

  • headwordsingular
  • headwordsplural

1. a word or short phrase that a dictionary treats as a separate main entry, printe

1.名詞B2
釋義

a word or short phrase that a dictionary treats as a separate main entry, printed in bold at the top of the section, followed by its pronunciation, definition, and usage information

例句

When Elena opened the Cambridge dictionary, each headword was printed in dark blue ink so readers could find it quickly.

headword + bold formatting in dictionary

The editor asked the team to check that every headword in the new dictionary had a clear pronunciation guide.

editor + headword + pronunciation guide collocation

同義詞
  • entry word

    more general; any word that begins a dictionary entry

  • lemma

    technical term used in linguistics and computational language processing

  • keyword

    broader in meaning; used for search terms and tags, not limited to dictionaries

用法筆記

In modern digital dictionaries, the headword is often highlighted in a different colour and may be clickable. The term is not used in everyday conversation — most people simply say 'the word' or 'the entry'.

常見錯誤

❌I searched for the headword 'sustainable' in the online dictionary.
✅I searched for the word 'sustainable' in the online dictionary.
💡'headword' describes the status of a word inside a dictionary entry, not the word you are looking for in everyday language.