8 letters · 16 points in Scrabble
noun a content word that can be qualified by a modifier
noun a word placed at the beginning of a line or paragraph (as in a dictionary entry)
originFrom head + word. Compare West Frisian haadwurd (“noun, substantive, headword”), Dutch hoofdwoord (“headword”), German Hauptwort (“noun, substantive, headword”), Swedish huvudord (“headword, keyword”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0