redhead

Etymology

It is formed from English red + head.^[2][3][4][5] It is recorded earlier as a surname, “Adam Redhed” in 1256,^[2][4][6] which the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names explains as a nickname from Middle English red hed (“red head”), presumably for someone with red hair.^[6] The adjective red was used of people with red hair from late Old English.^[4] The sense "a member of the Kizilbash" is ultimately modelled on that people's Ottoman Turkish name,^[2] and the name of the duck follows the earlier “red-headed duck”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person with red hair: 1510, in J. Stanbridge's Vocabula, although the OED notes that this first quotation may show the adjective.^[2] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to about 1510,^[7] while Etymonline puts it in the mid-13th century on the evidence of the surname.^[4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gives 1664^[8] and Dictionary.com 1655–65.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the word was used for a member of the Kizilbash, a people known for their red headdresses (1555).^[2][7] In North America it became the name of a diving duck with a reddish-brown head (1709, in J. Lawson's New Voyage to Carolina).^[2][9] From 1816 it was applied to other birds with red heads or red markings on the head, such as the pochard in British regional use and a woodpecker in North America.^[2][3][7] In the Caribbean it is the name of a milkweed with bright red flowers, also called bastard ipecacuanha (1798).^[2][9] As an adjective, "having red hair", it is recorded from the 1660s, the same time as red-headed, while red-haired goes back to about 1500.^[4][2] Etymonline quotes the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore (2000): traditional beliefs held red-haired people to be hot-tempered, treacherous and highly sexed, and the medieval idea that Judas, Cain and Mary Magdalene had red hair both grew out of these beliefs and kept them alive.^[4] The Concise Oxford notes that the noun is used especially of a woman.^[10]

Timeline

• 1256 – “Adam Redhed”, a surname.^[2][6]
• 1510 – a person with red hair.^[2][7] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-13th century.^[4]
• 1555 – a member of the Kizilbash.^[2]
• 1664 – adjective, having red hair.^[2][4]
• 1709 – a North American diving duck, Aythya americana.^[2][9]
• 1798 – a Caribbean milkweed with red flowers.^[2]
• 1816 – other birds with red heads, such as the pochard.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person with red hair: The redhead at the next table ordered coffee.^[11][7][12]
2. A North American diving duck, Aythya americana, the male of which has a reddish head, related to the pochard and the canvasback.^[11][7][2]
3. Any of various other birds with a red head, such as the pochard in British regional use or the red-headed woodpecker.^[2][13][7]
4. (usually capitalized) A member of the Kizilbash.^[7][2]

Adjective

1. Having red hair; red-headed.^[2][3]

Word family

• redheaded

Related words

• red
• head

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Hanks, Patrick; Coates, Richard; McClure, Peter, eds. (2016), The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers