In linguistics, the
head of a
phrase is the word that determines the
syntactic type of that phrase. For example, the head of the
noun phrase boiling hot water is the
noun water. Analogously, the head of a
compound is the
stem that determines the semantic category of that compound. For example, the head of the compound noun
handbag is
bag, since a handbag is a bag, not a hand. The other elements of the phrase or compound
modify the head, and are therefore the head's
dependents. Headed phrases and compounds are called
endocentric, whereas
exocentric ("headless") phrases and compounds (if they exist) lack a clear head. Heads are crucial to establishing the direction of
branching. Head-initial phrases are right-branching, head-final phrases are left-branching, and head-medial phrases combine left- and right-branching.