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空头 (kōng tóu) — (finance) bear market position, short-seller; nominal, phony, empty

Definition

空头 (kōng tóu) has two unrelated senses: in finance it means a 'short-seller' (one who bets prices will fall), and as a general adjective it means 'nominal, in name only' — a title or position with no real power (e.g. 空头领导).

noun
(finance) bear market positionshort-sellernominalphonyempty

Examples

  • ，空头。
    Zhè cì gǔ shì dà diē, kōng tóu zhuàn le hěn duō qián.
    During this stock market crash, the short-sellers made a lot of money.
  • 空头，。
    Tā zhǐ shì yí gè kōng tóu lǐng dǎo, méi yǒu rèn hé shí quán.
    He's just a nominal leader without any real power.
  • ，。
    Bú yào xiāng xìn tā de kōng tóu zhī piào, tā gēn běn hái bù qǐ.
    Don't believe his phony check — there's no way he can pay it back.

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.

空kōngempty
头tóuhead; position

空 gives 'empty/short', while 头 gives 'head/position', so the word names an empty position or short side.

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
穴穴xuécave, hole
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng空kōng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

空 is built from 穴, a cave or hole, and 工, which gives the sound.

Open 空 →

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
Finance & Banking

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