In linguistics, the head is the morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member.

In the noun phrase colorless green ideas, for instance, ideas is the head, which is modified by the adjectives colorless and green. Likewise, in the compound noun greensleeves, sleeves is the head, which is modified by the adjective green.

See also

• Head-driven phrase structure grammar
• Head directionality parameter

Syntax

núcleo sintáctico