What Does Jerkinhead Mean?

: a hipped part of a roof which is hipped only for a part of its height leaving a truncated gable.

What is a Jerkinhead?

Without a doubt, jerkinhead is one of the more curious words in the architectural dictionary. Although it may sound strange, it is a very common architectural roof detail found on many homes and structures in our community. In short, no pun intended, it is a gable roof that has been cut off or clipped.

Why is it called jerkinhead roof?

It's most likely a variation of kirkin-head. Kirk was a Scottish word for church. This means that the earliest appearances of jerkinhead roofs may have been on churches, and the word means “church head,” or “church roof.” This suggests that the origins of the jerkinhead roof are actually pretty old.