fountainhead means A spring that is the source of a river. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 78 out of 100.
Why “fountainhead” is a great word
FOUNTAINHEAD — [Noun] The original spring from which a river flows, or the primary, abundant source of something, especially of an intellectual or creative nature. From 'fountain' (a natural spring of water) + 'head' (source, origin). First recorded in 1575–85. Unlike a general 'source' (any point of derivation) or a 'manifestation' (its subsequent, tangible form), a fountainhead is the fertile, sustaining beginning that precedes and produces all subsequent expressions. It is the cold, mossy cleft in the mountainside from which the first clear trickle emerges; the radical treatise from which a century of thought is distilled; the quiet conviction that upends a tradition—the point of purity before the long, inevitable dilution, upon which all downstream abundance depends.
Etymology
From fountain + head.
noun
- A spring that is the source of a river.
- An abundant source of knowledge, etc.