Pithead
/ˈpɪt.hɛd/noun
The top of a mine shaft or the surface works at a mine entrance.
Did you know?Pithead is a mining term built from plain Old English roots, but in industrial history it became the symbolic threshold between daylight and the dark, dangerous world below.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
pytt
“a hole, well, or underground excavation”
Old English
OE
hēafod
“the top or upper part; head”
Middle English
ME
pitte hedd
“the top part of a pit or mine shaft”
19th Century
English
pithead
“the surface area and structures at the entrance to a coal mine”
Modern English
English
pithead
“the top of a mine shaft or the surface works at a mine entrance”