HSK 6 · Transport

码头 mǎtou “dock” in Chinese

Traditional 碼頭

What 码头 means

  1. dock
  2. wharf
  3. pier
  4. quay

How to say 码头

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale码mǎ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own头touneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

码头 in a sentence

  1. 我们在码头等船。

    Wǒmen zài mǎtou děng chuán.

    We’re waiting for the boat at the wharf.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 码头上停着很多渔船。

    Mǎtou shàng tíng zhe hěn duō yúchuán.

    Lots of fishing boats are moored at the pier.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 码头 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 码 (mǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
码mǎagate
  • 石stone · shíMeaning part
  • 马horse · mǎSound part

石 hints at the meaning (stone); 马 (mǎ) hints at the sound. Compare it with mǎ.

The character 头 (tóu) with each of its parts in a different colour
头tousuffix for nouns
  • 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 码头

码 8 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.

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

Words related to 码头

Words with 码

密码mìmǎ · cipher号码hàomǎ · number数码shùmǎ · digital起码qǐmǎ · at least

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口头kǒutóu · oral镜头jìngtóu · camera shot

More words: Everyday Things

舰艇jiàntǐng · naval vessel立交桥lìjiāoqiáo · overpass轮船lúnchuán · steamship轮胎lúntāi · tyre逆行nìxíng · to go the wrong way (against traffic)桥梁qiáoliáng · bridge启程qǐchéng · to set out (on a journey)刹车shāchē · to brake

FAQs

码头 (mǎtou) means “dock” or “wharf”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it mǎtou: mǎ with a 3rd tone, then tou with a neutral 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, 码头 is written 碼頭. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type matou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 码头 from the suggestions. Typing matou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
码头 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.