HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Body

头 tóu “head” in Chinese

Traditional 頭

What 头 means

  1. head
  2. hair style
  3. the top
  4. end
  5. beginning or end
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • a stub

Measure word 个 gè · 一个头 yí ge tóu

How to say 头

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale头tóu2nd tone, rising

头 in a sentence

  1. 我的眼睛和头都哭疼了。

    Wǒ de yǎnjing hé tóu dōu kū téng le.

    My eyes and head hurt from crying.

    Sentence #13881258 from Tatoeba

  2. 他们告诉我们他们头疼。

    Tāmen gàosu wǒmen tāmen tóu téng.

    They told us that they had a headache.

    Sentence #13880528 from Tatoeba

  3. 妈妈喜欢吃鱼头。

    Māma xǐhuan chī yútóu.

    Mum likes eating fish heads.

    Sentence #1878305 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 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 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 头

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.

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

Words related to 头

Words with 头

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码头mǎtou · dock

More words: People, Body & Health

女孩儿nǚháir · girl小孩儿xiǎoháir · child姓名xìngmíng · full name手shǒu · hand阿姨āyí · auntie别人biéren · other people客人kèrén · guest邻居línjū · neighbour

FAQs

头 (tóu) means “head” or “hair style”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it tóu: 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, 头 is written 頭. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one head is 一个头 (yí ge tóu).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 头 from the suggestions. Typing tou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
头 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older 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.