knot-headed
Stubborn or foolish, like your skull is a hard knot of wood.
Also called knothead, knot headed.
Updated September 24, 2026
knot-headed pronunciation
/NOT-hed-id/
Meaning
Knot-headed means thick in the head: too stubborn to listen, or just doing something dumb. Rural Southern and Appalachian talk uses it as a mild fuss, often at kids or kin. You are not calling them evil. You are saying common sense bounced off. The noun is knothead. Same family as hard-headed and mule-headed.
How folks use it
- “That knot-headed mule won't take the bit no matter what I try.”
- “Don't be so knot-headed. Put the spare tire on before we leave.”
Origin and etymology
From knot (a hard lump in wood) plus head: the idea is a skull too hard for sense to soak in. Green's Dictionary records knothead for a fool and for a stubborn mule, with American cites from the mid-1800s on. Tennessee expression lists from the 1940s gloss knot head as low intelligence. Hill country speech kept the adjective knot-headed for everyday scolding.