大舌头 (dà shé tou) — (colloquial) lisp; (colloquial) a person who lisps

Definition

Colloquial term for a lisp (the speech condition) and, by extension, the person who has one. Fixed phrase — 头 here is a nominal suffix, not the standalone noun 'head'.

noun
(colloquial) lisp(colloquial) a person who lisps

Examples

  • 大舌头。
    Tā shuō huà yǒu diǎn r dà shé tou.
    He has a bit of a lisp when he speaks.
  • 大舌头。
    Tā de dà shé tou ràng tā bú tài gǎn zài hěn duō rén miàn qián shuō huà.
    His lisp makes him afraid to speak in front of many people.
  • 大舌头，。
    Xiǎo de shí hou wǒ yǒu diǎn dà shé tou, hòu lái jiù hǎo le.
    When I was little I had a slight lisp, but later it got better.

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.

大dàbig
舌头tongue
舌shétongue头tóubody-part ending
后缀Suffix

大 (big) and 舌头 (tongue) give the image of a big tongue, used colloquially for a lisp.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

舌 was drawn as a snake's forked tongue rising from an open mouth.

Open 舌 →

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 →

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