无头案 (wú tóu àn) — unsolved mystery, unsolved case

Definition

noun

unsolved mysteryunsolved case

Examples

无头案，。
Zhè qǐ àn jiàn chéng le wú tóu àn, jǐng fāng zhì jīn méi yǒu zhǎo dào xiōng shǒu.
This case became an unsolved mystery; the police still haven't found the murderer.
无头案，。
Guān yú nà ge gǔ lǎo de wú tóu àn, yǒu hěn duō chuán shuō.
There are many legends about that ancient unsolved mystery.
无头案。
Zhè ge wú tóu àn kùn rǎo le lì shǐ xué jiā jǐ shí nián.
This unsolved mystery has puzzled historians for decades.

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.

无头headless

无wúnot have头tóuhead

动宾Verb + object

案àncase

无头 means lacking a head or clue, and 案 means case; together they describe an unsolved case.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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.

Open 头 →