the.com/arrowhead
A rock sharpened enough to argue with you, then outlive you by ten thousand years.
means The pointed stone or metal tip fixed to the front of an arrow, shaped to pierce whatever it hits.
from Straightforward compound of 'arrow' and 'head' — the 'head' being the striking end, same logic as a hammerhead or spearhead. 'Arrow' itself traces back through Old English 'arwe' to a Germanic root, possibly related to a much older Indo-European word for bow. Nothing hidden here: the word names the part the way the part works, point first.
- material
- usually flint, obsidian, or chert
- technique
- knapping, not carving
- longevity
- outlasts the civilization that made it
- misnomer
- many found were actually spearheads