话头 (huà tóu) — topic or thread of a conversation; (less common) tone of voice

Definition

话头 (huàtóu) is a less common, somewhat literary word for the 'thread or topic' of a conversation. The second sense ('tone of voice') is rare and idiom-bound — heard mostly in fixed expressions like 从…话头里.

noun
topic or thread of a conversation(less common) tone of voice
Easily confused

Examples

  • 话头，。
    Tā huà tóu yì zhuǎn, kāi shǐ liáo qǐ le bié de shì qing.
    He changed the topic and started talking about something else.
  • 。
    Wǒ men de huà tóu bèi tū rú qí lái de diàn huà dǎ duàn le.
    Our conversation thread was interrupted by a sudden phone call.
  • ，。
    Cóng tā de huà tóu lǐ, wǒ néng tīng chū tā yǒu xiē bù gāo xìng.
    From his tone of voice, I could tell he was a bit unhappy.

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.

话huàtalk
头tóubeginning

The beginning of a talk is its topic.

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 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →

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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