fountainhead

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

Also spelled fountain-head

US /ˈfaʊntnhɛd/ UK /ˈfaʊntɪnhɛd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the source of a stream; the original source of something

That treatise became the fountainhead of modern economic theory.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the source of a stream; the... source origin wellspring fount headspring spring root

Opposites

mouth outlet

Word family

Related forms fountain fount font

Etymology

A compound of fountain (via Old French fontaine from Late Latin fontana, from Latin fons, 'spring') + head, in the sense 'source of a stream'.

fontÄna Latin fÅns Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# fountainhead

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

## Meanings
1. the source of a stream; the original source of something

## Examples
- That treatise became the fountainhead of modern economic theory.

## Synonyms
- source
- origin
- wellspring
- fount
- headspring
- spring
- root

## Antonyms
- mouth
- outlet

## Related Forms
- fountain
- fount
- font

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: fontÄna
- Root: fÅns

## Etymology
A compound of fountain (via Old French fontaine from Late Latin fontana, from Latin fons, 'spring') + head, in the sense 'source of a stream'.

## AI Etymology
Fountainhead is a compound of fountain (via Old French fontaine from Late Latin fontana, from Latin fons, 'spring') + head, in the sense 'source of a stream'. Morphologically, the form is compositional, with the named elements combining to produce the modern spelling and sense. In present use, it is used as a noun meaning "the source of a stream; the original source of something", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes related forms such as fountain, fount, and font, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Latin fontÄna and Latin fÅns, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood is marked by source, origin, wellspring, and fount on one side and contrasts such as mouth and outlet on the other, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

markdown