尖头 (jiān tóu) — tip, point, pointed end; toe (of a shoe)

Definition

Literally 'sharp head', this noun names the pointed end of a long thin object — a pencil tip, knife tip, or the toe of a shoe.

noun

tippointpointed endtoe (of a shoe)

尖头。
Zhè zhī qiān bǐ de jiān tóu hěn jiān.
The tip of this pencil is very sharp.
尖头。
Wǒ zuǒ biān de xié zi jiān tóu mó pò le.
The toe of my left shoe is worn through.
尖头。
Tā yòng diāo kè dāo de jiān tóu kè chū le huā wén.
He used the tip of the carving knife to carve out patterns.

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.

The word names the pointed part of something: 尖 gives sharpness and 头 denotes an end.

Characters in this word

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

小大尖

尖 puts 小 (small) above 大 (large), showing the width of an object gradually changing from small to large.

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

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.

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