口头 (kǒu tóu) — oral, verbal (spoken rather than written) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

口头 means 'oral/verbal' — said out loud rather than written down (口头承诺 'verbal promise'). Not to be confused with 口腔 ('oral cavity', the mouth as a body part).

oralverbal (spoken rather than written)

Examples

口头，。
Tā zhǐ shì zuò le kǒu tóu chéng nuò, méi yǒu qiān hé tong.
He only made a verbal promise, without signing a contract.
口头。
Tā de kǒu tóu biǎo dá néng lì hěn qiáng.
His oral expression ability is very strong.
口头。
Qǐng bǎ kǒu tóu tōng zhī xiě chéng shū miàn wén jiàn.
Please write the oral notice into a written document.

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.

口头 combines 口 (mouth) with 头 (head), meaning spoken rather than written.

Characters in this word

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

The form 口 looks like an open mouth.

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.

豆頁頭

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.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Communication & Speech

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