老头 (lǎo tóu) — (informal) old man, old fellow; (colloquial) on…

Definition

An informal, familiar word for an old man. Family members use it for 'dad' and older women for 'husband'.

noun

(informal) old manold fellow(colloquial) one's father (used by family members)(colloquial) one's husband (used by older women)

Measure word · 个

老头。
Gōng yuán lǐ yǒu jǐ gè lǎo tóu zài xià qí.
There are a few old men playing chess in the park.
老头。
Wǒ jiā lǎo tóu zuì xǐ huan kàn xīn wén.
My old man (father) loves watching the news.
老头。
Tā jiā lǎo tóu měi tiān jiē tā xià bān.
Her husband picks her up from work every day.

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.

The 老 element means 'old', and the 头 element suggests a person, together naming an old man or chap.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape 老 combines 人 (man), 毛 (hair), and 匕 (cane), showing a man with long hair leaning on a cane.

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

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.

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