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冤大头 (yuān dà tóu) — a sucker, a dupe; someone who is overcharged or tricked into paying too much

Definition

Colloquial term for 'sucker' — someone who is easily overcharged or tricked into paying. Used in spoken Chinese; the 当了∼ pattern means 'to be taken advantage of'.

noun
a suckera dupesomeone who is overcharged or tricked into paying too much
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，冤大头。
    Tā huā le liǎng qiān kuài qián mǎi nà ge jiǎ gǔ dǒng, zhēn shì gè yuān dà tóu.
    He spent two thousand yuan on that fake antique; he's a real sucker.
  • ，冤大头。
    Zhè cì jù cān dà jiā dōu ràng wǒ fù qián, wǒ dāng le yuān dà tóu.
    Everyone made me pay for the meal this time — I was the fall guy.
  • 冤大头，。
    Bié dāng yuān dà tóu le, nà jiā diàn de jià gé bǐ bié chù guì yí bèi.
    Don't be taken for a ride — that shop's prices are twice as high as elsewhere.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

冤yuānwronged
大头
大dàbig头tóuhead
偏正Modifier + head

A 大头 treated unfairly by 冤, hence a dupe who pays too much.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 冤 is built from two parts: 冖, a cover, and 兔, a rabbit.

Open 冤 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 頭; 头 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
豆
豆dòu頭tóu
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 頭 shows 頁, meaning head, beside 豆 as a sound component; the simplified 头 is a later shorthand.

Open 头 →
Appears in
People (General)

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