egghead

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈɛɡˌhɛd/ UK /ˈɛɡˌhɛd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an intellectual or bookish person (often disparaging)

The eggheads in the lab finally cracked the equation.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an intellectual or bookish... intellectualhighbrowbrain pundit scholarbrainiacboffin

Opposites

dunce ignoramus dullard

Word family

Derived forms eggheaded

Related forms egg head

Etymology

A 20th-century American compound of egg + head, alluding to the bald, egg-shaped head stereotypically attributed to intellectuals; popularized in 1950s US political discourse.

æg Old English hēafod Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# egghead

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɛɡˌhɛd/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɛɡˌhɛd/

## Meanings
1. an intellectual or bookish person (often disparaging)

## Examples
- The eggheads in the lab finally cracked the equation.

## Synonyms
- intellectual
- highbrow
- brain
- pundit
- scholar
- brainiac
- boffin

## Antonyms
- dunce
- ignoramus
- dullard

## Derived Forms
- eggheaded

## Related Forms
- egg
- head

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: æg
- Root: hēafod

## Etymology
A 20th-century American compound of egg + head, alluding to the bald, egg-shaped head stereotypically attributed to intellectuals; popularized in 1950s US political discourse.

## AI Etymology
Egghead is a 20th-century American compound of egg + head, alluding to the bald, egg-shaped head stereotypically attributed to intellectuals; popularized in 1950s US political discourse. The ancestry passes through Old English æg and Old English hēafod. In present use as a noun, it means "an intellectual or bookish person (often disparaging)", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. The political or institutional use is therefore a specialization of an older formation rather than a separate coinage. Related words include egg and head; derived forms include eggheaded.

## Topics
- People & Society

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