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头天 (tóu tiān) — previous day; first day

Definition

Means "the day before" (past) or "the first day" (of an event). In the "previous day" sense it pairs with the following day; in the "first day" sense it is modified by an event like 进公司.

noun
previous dayfirst day

Examples

  • 头天。
    Wǒ men tóu tiān jiù dào le běi jīng.
    We arrived in Beijing the previous day.
  • 头天，。
    tóu tiān Jìn gōng sī, tā shuí dōu bú rèn shi.
    On the first day at the company, he didn't know anyone.
  • 头天，。
    tóu tiān Wǎn shàng tā hē le tài duō jiǔ, dì èr tiān tóu téng sǐ le.
    The night before, he drank too much, and the next day he had a terrible headache.

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.

头tóufirst/previous
天tiānday

头 (first/previous) marks 天 (day) as the day before or the first day.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →
Appears in
Days & Weeks

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