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笔头 (bǐ tóu) — nib, pen point, tip of a writing brush or pen; writing ability, penmanship; (attributive) written (as opposed to oral)

Definition

笔头 is literally the tip of a pen, but it's also used attributively to mean 'written' (笔头功夫, 笔头考试) as opposed to spoken/oral. The 'penmanship' sense refers to one's writing skill.

noun
nibpen pointtip of a writing brush or penwriting abilitypenmanship(attributive) written (as opposed to oral)

Examples

  • 笔头。
    Zhè ge bǐ tóu xū yào huàn yí gè xīn de le.
    This pen point needs to be replaced with a new one.
  • 笔头，。
    Tā de bǐ tóu hěn hǎo, xiě wén zhāng xiě dé hěn liú chàng.
    His writing ability is good; he writes articles very fluently.
  • ，笔头。
    Chú le kǒu shì yǐ wài, wǒ men hái yǒu bǐ tóu kǎo shì.
    Besides the oral exam, we also have a written exam.

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.

笔bǐpen
头tóuhead/tip

The 头, or head/tip, of a 笔, a pen.

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 筆; 笔 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
竹竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
聿
聿yù筆bǐ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The simplified 笔 is based on the traditional form 筆, which puts 竹 (bamboo) beside 聿 (writing brush). 聿 already meant the brush and supplied the sound; 竹 was added later to show it was made of bamboo.

Open 笔 →

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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