指头 (zhǐ tou) — finger; toe | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

fingertoe

Measure word · 个

Examples

指头。
Wǒ de zhǐ tou bèi dāo gē shāng le.
My finger got cut by a knife.
，指头。
Zǒu lù shí bù xiǎo xīn tī dào le shí tou, zhǐ tou hěn téng.
I accidentally kicked a stone while walking, and my toe really hurts.
指头。
Tā shēn chū zhǐ tou zhǐ le zhǐ qiáng shàng nà fú huà.
He extended his finger and pointed at that painting on the wall.

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.

指 'finger' plus 头 gives the common spoken word for a finger or toe.

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.

扌旨指

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

旨

旨zhǐ指zhǐ

Same sound today

The left part 扌 is the hand form 手. The right part 旨 gives the sound.

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

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.

Appears in

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