arrowhead

American  

[ar-oh-hed] / ˈær oʊˌhɛd /

noun

arrowheads plural

1. the head or tip of an arrow, usually separable from the shaft and conventionally wedge-shaped.

2. anything resembling or having the conventional shape of an arrowhead.

3. Also called swamp potato.  any aquatic or bog plant of the genus Sagittaria, having usually arrowhead-shaped leaves and clusters of white flowers.

4. any of several other plants having arrowhead-shaped leaves.

5. the dartlike form in an egg-and-dart ornament.

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arrowhead British  

/ ˈærəʊˌhɛd /

noun

1. the pointed tip of an arrow, often removable from the shaft

2. something that resembles the head of an arrow in shape, such as a triangular decoration on garments used to reinforce joins

3. any aquatic herbaceous plant of the genus Sagittaria, esp S. sagittifolia, having arrow-shaped aerial leaves and linear submerged leaves: family Alismataceae

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• arrowheads
  plural

Etymology

Origin of arrowhead

1350–1400; Middle English arwe he ( ve ) d; see arrow, head

Explanation

The sharp tip of an arrow is called an arrowhead. Ancient arrowheads were made from carved, sharpened stone and pieces of bone. If you're an archaeologist, you probably think of an arrowhead as an artifact that you might find, evidence of some ancient society. As long ago as the Stone Age, hunters attached arrowheads to their weapons, and more modern warriors and hunters used arrowheads made of metal. The word comes from arrow, with its Old English root of arwan, and head, from the Old English heafod, "top of the body," but also "top."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arrowhead arrowheads

Ironically, the National Park Service logo is an arrowhead.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025

Think of it like an arrow, where the arrowhead holds a portion of the information and the arrow tail holds the rest, Lee said.

From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2025

At burials excavated at one site, over 85 iron objects - knives, arrowhead, rings, chisels, axes and swords - were found inside and outside burial urns.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025

Holding an ancient artifact in your hands, a natural artifact like a meteorite or man-made artifact like an arrowhead, invokes a sense of awe: What stories can this object tell?

From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2023

Jet Stone Boy started to sing and pulled an arrowhead the same texture and color of his body out of a pouch that hung at his right hip.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

You may have seen it before: When two identical horizontal lines are capped with arrowheads pointing either inward or outward, the line with inward-facing arrowheads looks longer, even though it’s not.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2025

In the process, they uncovered hoe-spades, spears, knives, arrowheads, chisels, axes and swords made of iron.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025

The team used it to successfully haft two flint arrowheads to wooden handles.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 22, 2024

Analyses show that the points are most likely arrowheads that, at 74,000 years in age, represent the oldest evidence of archery.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024

I wandered up and down the cotton rows looking for arrowheads or lost tools or anything I could find in the furrows.

From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe