光头 (guāng tóu) — bald head; shaven head

Definition

noun

bald headshaven head

Measure word · 个

光头。
Tā shì gè guāng tóu.
He is a bald man.
光头。
Tā de tóu fa tì chéng le guāng tóu.
His hair was shaved into a bald head.
光头。
Nà ge guāng tóu cóng yuǎn chù zǒu lái.
That bald man walked over from a distance.

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.

'光' (bare) and '头' (head) combine to mean a head without hair.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 光 places 火 (fire) above 卩 (a kneeling person), showing fire over the head and the shining of light.

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.

Appears in