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舌头 (shé tou) — tongue; (slang) captured enemy soldier used for intelligence

Definition

舌头 means 'tongue' (the body part). In traditional Chinese medicine it is one of the 五官 ('five sense organs'), alongside the nose, eyes, lips, and ears.

noun
tongue(slang) captured enemy soldier used for intelligence
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 舌头。
    Tā shēn chū shé tou lái ràng wǒ kàn.
    He stuck out his tongue for me to see.
  • 舌头。
    Là dé wǒ shé tou dōu má le.
    It's so spicy my tongue is numb.
  • 舌头。
    Yī shēng ràng wǒ bǎ shé tou shēn chū lái.
    The doctor told me to stick out my tongue.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

舌shétongue
头tóuword ending

舌 gives the meaning of tongue, and 头 makes it a familiar spoken form.

Characters in this word

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 5Body Parts5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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