hoofden

Hoofd is a Dutch noun meaning the upper part of the body that houses the brain and sensory organs. The plural form is hoofden, used when referring to more than one head. In everyday language, hoofd can also denote leadership or the chief part of something, as in het hoofd van een team.

In human anatomy, the head includes the skull (schedel), the brain (brein), the face (gezicht) and the major sensory organs. The skull protects the brain, and the neck (nek) connects the head to the torso. The head is a central reference point in both biology and daily life, and its functions underpin sensation, cognition and motor control.

In Dutch, hoofd appears in many compound terms to express the sense of primary or chief. Common examples include hoofdpijn (headache), hoofdstuk (chapter) and hoofdredacteur (editor-in-chief). In some compounds the form changes phonetically, for instance hoofdstuk is formed from hoofd + stuk with a phonological adjustment, yielding hoofdstuk in spelling. These compounds illustrate how the word functions both literally and metaphorically as a unit of leadership or primacy.

Etymology and cognates: hoofd is etymologically related to German Kopf and English head, reflecting a shared Germanic origin. The word is used across contexts—from anatomy to everyday expressions and organizational titles—demonstrating its versatility in Dutch vocabulary.