Information About

Headword




For example, the headword Bread may contain the following (simplified) definitions:

:Bread
(noun)

  • A common food made from the combination of Flour , Water and Yeast

  • Money ''(slang)''

  • (verb)

    • To coat in breadcrumbs

    • :— to know which side your bread is buttered to know how to act in your own best interests.


    The 's Third New International Dictionary has about 470,000 {Link without Title} . Both of these values are as claimed by the dictionary makers, and may not be using exactly the same definition of a headword. Also, the Oxford English Dictionary covers each word much more exhaustively than the Third New International.

    The term 'lemma' comes from the practice in Greco-Roman antiquity of using the word to refer to the headwords of marginal glosses in Scholia ; for this reason, the Ancient Greek plural form is sometimes used, namely ''lemmata'' (Greek λῆμμα, pl. λήμματα).