Hoofdtypes

Hoofdtypes, literally “main types” in Dutch, is not a single, universally defined concept. It is a label used in various disciplines to describe primary categories or foundational types that organize or structure a system. Because terminology differs across fields, the exact meaning of hoofdtypes is context-dependent and should be clarified in discipline-specific documentation.

In information organization and taxonomy, hoofdtypes denote high-level categories that act as anchors for subordinate classes. They function as headers or parents in a hierarchical scheme. For example, in a classification scheme used by a library or a product catalog, hoofdtypes might include broad domains such as Arts, Science, and Technology, with more granular subtypes nested beneath.

In data modeling, software development, and ontology design, hoofdtypes can refer to core or primitive types, or to primary entity types that determine the structure of the model. They are used to define the overarching scope of the data and to guide the creation of subtypes, relationships, and constraints.

Because the term is not standardized, practitioners should consult a project’s glossary or data dictionary to understand which categories are treated as hoofdtypes and how they relate to subtypes. The concept remains a generic label for organizing and classifying complex information through a top-level category framework.