egghead

American  

[eg-hed] / ˈɛgˌhɛd /

noun

Slang: Usually Disparaging.

1. an intellectual.

---

egghead British  

/ ˈɛɡˌhɛd /

noun

1. informal an intellectual; highbrow

---

Sensitive Note

This term is usually used with disparaging intent, implying that an intellectual is out-of-touch with ordinary people. Though first used by journalists to insult editorial writers, egghead was popularized as an epithet of Adlai Stevenson, the 1952 Democratic presidential candidate.

Etymology

Origin of egghead

1915–20; egg ¹ + head; by analogy with someone who is bald

Explanation

An egghead is a smart, nerdy person. You might call your studious older brother, who always seems to have a book in his hand, an egghead. The word egghead is a very informal, slightly insulting name for an intellectual. College libraries are full of eggheads, academics who are researching and writing and thinking about their scholarly pursuits. The word originally meant "bald person," but it came to mean "smart person" in Chicago-area slang, particularly among newspaper reporters around 1918.

Example Sentences

You don’t need to be an egghead to crack the Slate News Quiz.

From Slate • Jul. 11, 2025

Individual investors and savers, however, don’t need some economic egghead to give a recession an official stamp of approval.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 13, 2022

And the egghead teams that aren’t at all watchable, such as Vanderbilt in the SEC and Northwestern in the Big Ten?

From Washington Post • Jul. 18, 2022

The head of E. electricus looks like the letter “u,” whereas that of E. voltai was more ovular — an egghead.

From New York Times • Sep. 10, 2019

Call me an egghead, but that's how I see it.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris