The head is the round part at the top of your body that contains your brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It's where you think, see, hear, smell, and taste. Your skull, the hard bone underneath your skin and hair, protects your brain like a helmet protects your head during sports.

The word has many other meanings that connect to this central idea of “top” or “leader”:

1. The person in charge of something. The head of a company makes important decisions, and a head coach leads a sports team. Your school's headteacher or principal runs the entire school.
2. The front or top part of something. You sleep with your head on a pillow at the head of the bed. The head of a table is the place where the person in charge might sit. When you flip a coin, heads is the side showing someone's face.
3. To move toward something. If you head home after school, you're going in that direction. A chapter heading tells you what's coming next.
4. A single item in a group. A rancher might count “fifty head of cattle,” meaning fifty individual cows.

When someone says “use your head,” they mean think carefully. To keep your head means staying calm under pressure, while losing your head means panicking.