Basehead

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who habitually smokes freebase cocaine, especially crack, and is addicted to it
2. Someone who regularly uses purified cocaine base in smokable form and has become dependent on the drug
3. A drug addict whose dependence centers on repeatedly smoking freebase cocaine

Etymology: The word "basehead" is a modern English compound, built from "base" and "head" and formed in the same way as words like "hothead" or "blockhead." Its first element, "base," comes from Latin "basis" by way of Old French, and the Greek word behind it, "basis," meant a step or a pedestal, a sense that still sits underneath the modern meaning of "base" as a foundation. The second element, "head," traces back through Old English "hēafod" to a very old Germanic root that also gave the word its ancient sense of the top of the body. English uses "-head" as a suffix to name a person marked by a particular trait or habit, so the word takes its meaning from combining the two parts.

Synonyms: crackhead, addict