Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🕵️ To recruit directly 🕵️ A talent search 🗡️ To take heads
to headhunt

to headhunt

9.9
To take enemy heads as trophies in old rituals
  • verb
  • /ˈhɛdˌhʌnt/
  • Offensive
translation icon : decapitar
  • In the past, some warriors believed that to headhunt was a way to gain spiritual strength.

Examples

  • In ancient times, tribes would headhunt rival clans to display their bravery and skill.

  • The documentary explored how certain cultures would headhunt to honor their ancestors.

  • I seriously doubt that a high school coach told a player to headhunt the kicker of another team.

    Blog text (2)

Synonyms

to behead
vsto headhunt
  • Offensive
50 7.4

Cut off the head of a person or animal to kill them

is carried out to take heads as trophies rather than to punish

Surface Forms

headhunt infinitive
headhunted past
headhunted past participle
headhunting present participle
headhunts third person singular

Morphology

headhunt = head + hunt (transparent) = head + hunt

A literal combination of 'head' + 'hunt' meaning to hunt for heads; the components directly yield the literal sense.

Etymology

Headhunt originally had a literal sense from head + hunt, meaning to take a person's head as a trophy in the past. That strong image is where the modern idea comes from, even though today the word usually means searching for top people rather than the literal act.