HSK 6 · Verbs

口头 kǒutóu “oral” in Chinese

Traditional 口頭

What 口头 means

  1. oral
  2. verbal

How to say 口头

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale口kǒu3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale头tóu2nd tone, rising

口头 in a sentence

  1. 我不需要你口头上的温柔。

    Wǒ bù xūyào nǐ kǒutóu shàng de wēnróu.

    I don’t need tenderness that’s only in words.

    Sentence #11122919 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 口头 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 口 (kǒu) with each of its parts in a different colour
口kǒumouth
  • 冂down box · jiōng
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidDrawn from an open mouth.

The character 头 (tóu) with each of its parts in a different colour
头tóuhead
  • ⺀ice form of 冫 · bīng
  • 大big · dàMeaning part

Memory aidSimplified from 頭, where 页 meant “head” and 豆 (dòu) gave the sound.

How to write 口头

口 3 strokes · 头 5 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

口头 (kǒutóu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 口头 (kǒutóu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 口头

Words with 口

门口ménkǒu · doorway口kǒu · mouth路口lùkǒu · intersection入口rùkǒu · entrance口味kǒuwèi · taste胃口wèikǒu · appetite借口jièkǒu · to use as an excuse出口chūkǒu · exit进口jìnkǒu · to import人口rénkǒu · population

Words with 头

头tóu · head头发tóufa · hair on the head馒头mántou · steamed roll骨头gǔtou · bone石头shítou · stone木头mùtou · wood拳头quántou · fist舌头shétou · tongue镜头jìngtóu · camera shot码头mǎtou · dock

More words: Thinking & Talking

侃侃而谈kǎnkǎn'értán · to speak with ease and confidence恐吓kǒnghè · to threaten空想kōngxiǎng · fantasy口气kǒuqì · tone of voice口音kǒuyīn · accent唠叨láodao · to nag联络liánluò · to contact联想liánxiǎng · to associate (ideas)

FAQs

口头 (kǒutóu) means “oral” or “verbal”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kǒutóu: kǒu with a 3rd tone, then tóu with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 口头 is written 口頭. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type koutou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 口头 from the suggestions. Typing koutou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
口头 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.