冒头 (mào tóu) — to begin to appear, to crop up (of negative things)

Definition

Literally 'to poke its head out': a problem or trend just beginning to show itself, almost always with a negative or unwelcome sense. Read like a 离合词: 冒 + 了 + 次 + 头 (e.g. 刚冒了头, 冒过一次头).

verb
to begin to appearto crop up (of negative things)

Examples

  • 冒头。
    Zuì jìn zhè zhǒng bù liáng fēng qì yòu kāi shǐ mào tóu le.
    Lately this unhealthy trend has started to crop up again.
  • ，。
    Wèn tí gāng mào le tóu, jiù bèi lǐng dǎo fā xiàn le.
    The problem had just begun to appear when the leader discovered it.
  • 。
    Zhè zhǒng cuò wù zài kǎo shì zhōng mào guò yí cì tóu.
    This kind of mistake cropped up once in the exam.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

冒màoemerge
头tóuhead

冒 means to emerge and 头 head, giving the image of a head beginning to show.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
目目mùeyes
Sound part声符shēngfú
冃
冃mào冒mào
Same sound today

冒 was built from 冃, a hat used for the sound, plus 目, eyes, as the meaning part.

Open 冒 →

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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