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回头 (huí tóu) — (verb) to turn one's head; to turn around; (adverb/conjunction) later; by and by

Definition

回头 literally means 'turn one's head' (physical action); it also commonly means 'later' as a casual way to defer something. As a physical turn, it's more about the head/glance than 转身 (whole body) or 扭头 (a sharper, quicker twist).

verb
to turn one's headto turn around(adverb/conjunction) laterby and by

Examples

  • 回头。
    Tā huí tóu kàn le wǒ yì yǎn.
    He turned his head and glanced at me.
  • ，。
    Tā huí le yí cì tóu, méi kàn jiàn wǒ.
    He turned around once but didn't see me.
  • 回头，。
    huí tóu Wǒ men zài liáo, wǒ xiàn zài yǒu diǎn máng.
    Let's talk later — I'm a bit busy right now.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

回huíturn
头tóuhead

回 means to turn and 头 means the top of the body; together they describe turning around, extended to mean later.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

回 comes from a drawing of a spiral, showing something turning around.

Open 回 →

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
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