# figure head on ships **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811 "2005-08-19T22:06:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mattandc6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mattandc6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattandc6)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/1 "2005-08-19T22:06:35Z")
hi does anyone know what the proper or other word for a ships figure head(the statue usually on the front of old ships) is? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/2 "2005-08-19T22:24:28Z")
Unless I am misunderstanding you, I think the proper word is ‘figurehead’ (all one word, not ‘figure head’). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/3 "2005-08-19T22:25:57Z")
Oddly enough, it’s figurehead. From Merriam-Webster: Main Entry: fig·ure·head Pronunciation: 'fi-g(y)&r-"hed Function: noun 1 : the figure on a ship’s bow 2 : a head or chief in name only There may be some more obscure names for it, but that’s the most common one in English. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/4 "2005-08-19T22:51:36Z")
They are also called Billetheads and Catheads depending on the vessel and period from which it came. See [Here](http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=DD896C8C-A3FD-7E02-6E88034E6BFBB3D9) ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/5 "2005-08-19T23:34:08Z")
Mounted beneath the _bowsprit_. ---
**Author:** ![mattandc6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mattandc6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattandc6)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/6 "2005-08-20T17:46:51Z")
the other word im looking for might be greek or roman i think they mentioned it in the simbad movie ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/7 "2005-08-20T21:56:08Z")
Which Sinbad movie? The Harryhausen masterpiece? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/8 "2005-08-21T01:07:31Z")
If you are thinking of Harryhausen, the one with the figurehead (through which the Goddess Hera communicated) was _Jason and the Argonauts_. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/9 "2005-08-21T05:58:06Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > They are also called Billetheads and Catheads depending on the vessel and period from which it came. Well, a cathead was the wooden support etending out from the side of the ship from which an anchor was hung alongside the bow and, as far as I recall, a billethead was an extension of the keel for a ship’s boat (as a whaleboat) that projected above the bulwarks at bow and stern. I believe that some catheads may have had faces carved in the ends, but it was not a common practice and it would not really count as a figurehead. I suppose some people might have carved figures in billetheads, making them resemble miniature Viking longships, but I have never seen an example of that. However, that does bring us back to the OP: in some 20th century literature, there are references to the Viking longships being called dragons because of the dragon head carvings of the stemposts (with tails on the sternposts). (I have not discovered whether actual Vikings used that terminology.) Occasionally, I have seen the figurehead referred to as a mascot, but I do not think that that is a common usage. None of my “visual dictionaries” use any term other than figurehead. A number of seafaring cultures have painted eyes near the bows of their ships, but I have never heard of a special name, other than “eyes,” for that practice. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/10 "2005-08-21T06:10:59Z")
The Greeks were one of the cultures that used eyes, but since their warships were built with rams, neither they nor the Romans bothered to build figureheads that would be splintered as soon as battle was joined. The Romans had larger freighters, but while I recall sternposts extended to become swan haeds, I do not recall any figureheads. (A feature on many European sailing ships was the beakshead, but that was not a carving but a small platform extending out beneath the bowsprit that permitted the crew to stand and perform maintenance on the forward structure of the ship. Seats were pierced in it to allow the crew to sit down for toilet functions (where the waves would wash away their shit) and the term was shortened to “head” for a naval toilet.) ---
**Author:** ![mattandc6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mattandc6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattandc6)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figure-head-on-ships/317811/11 "2005-08-22T08:17:39Z")
hmmm i checked all that myslef too and came up blank,but several people i spoke too recall a second word for it but cant think of what it could be