endocentricadj.

1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xii. 194 The forms John and poor John have, on the whole, the same functions. Accordingly, we say that the English character-substance construction (as in poor John, fresh milk, and the like) is an endocentric construction.

1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xiv. 235 Since a blackbird is a kind of a bird, and a door-knob a kind of a knob, we may say that these compounds have the same function as their head members; they are endocentric.

1942 B. Bloch & G. L. Trager Outl. Ling. Anal. v. 76 If a phrase has the same function as one or more of its immediate constituents, it is an endocentric phrase and has an endocentric construction.

1957 S. Potter Mod. Ling. v. 114 Inasmuch as good men is a phrase without predication, it is said to be an endocentric construction. As a unit good men has the same function as one or more of its constituents.

1968 B. M. H. Strang Mod. Eng. Struct. (ed. 2) v. 77 Nominal groups (every conceivable kind of flower, the finest recording I've ever heard) have heads (flower, recording) and these heads are, like the groups they belong to, nominal. Structures of this..kind are endocentric.

1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics vi. 238 Only all and both can be endocentrically preposed to constructions closed in this way (both my big black dogs, etc.).