English
forkhead
From fork + head.
Latin furca ‘pitchfork, forked stake’
Proto-West Germanic *furkō
Old English force ‘forked instrument used to torture’
Middle English forke ‘digging fork’
English fork
Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘head’
…
Proto-Germanic *haubudą ‘head’
Proto-West Germanic *haubud
Old English hēafod ‘head’
Middle English heed ‘head’
English head
Today it means
noun A sequence of amino acids that forms a motif, in FOX proteins, that binds to DNA.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / forkhead