How to Write 头 (tou/tóu) — Meaning “head”

Imagine a big person (大) with two tiny hair dots on top. The two dots are the head’s hair, and 大 is the body below, so you remember that 'head' (头) is 大 with dots on top.

Stroke order: dot (top-left), dot (top-right), horizontal, left-falling, right-falling. A common mistake is making the two dots too far apart or writing them as a single line—keep them close and above the horizontal stroke.

头 has two dots above 大, which is the head. 大 has no dots and means 'big'. 买 (mǎi, 'to buy') looks like 头 but has an extra horizontal hook stroke on top, making it different in both shape and meaning.

头 means 'head' and appears in words like 头发 (hair) and 头疼 (headache). It also means 'leader' (头儿) and is a measure word for animals like 一头牛 (one cow). Culturally, avoid touching someone’s head without permission as it can be considered disrespectful.

Common words containing 头 include: 头发 (tóu fà) — hair (on the head); 头疼 (tóu téng) — headache; 抬头 (tái tóu) — to raise one's head.