endocentric (adj.)

A term used in GRAMMATICAL analysis as part of a two-way classification of SYNTACTIC constructions using DISTRIBUTIONAL criteria: it refers to a group of syntactically related WORDS where one of the words is FUNCTIONALLY equivalent to the group as a whole (i.e. there is a definable ‘centre’ or HEAD inside the group, which has the same distribution as the whole); it is opposed to EXOCENTRIC. Constructions which display endocentricity include NOUN PHRASES and VERB phrases (as traditionally defined), where the CONSTITUENT items are SUBORDINATE to the head, e.g. the big house, the cake with icing, will be going, and also (in certain analyses) some types of CO-ORDINATION, e.g. boys and girls.