字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

head, counter for large animals

On’yomi トウ、ズ、ト
Kun’yomi あたま、かしら、-がしら、かぶり
Nanori かみ、がみ、ちゃん、つむり、づ

Origin

The character 頭 combines two parts: on the right is 頁, which is the classifier for "head" and shows the human head shape, and on the left is 豆, which serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation. The 豆 component doesn't contribute a meaning here—it's just there to guide how the character should be read aloud. By pairing the head classifier 頁 with the phonetic hint 豆, ancient Chinese writers created a character that both looks like what it represents and sounds the way they wanted it to.

頭 16 strokes

Components

  • 豆 sound hint left
  • 頁 radical right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 音頭 おんど lead (in a cheer, toast, song, etc.); (someone's) lead
  • 会頭 かいとう society president
  • 街頭 がいとう (on the) street
  • 口頭 こうとう oral; verbal
  • 出頭 しゅっとう appearance; presence
  • 初頭 しょとう beginning (of a century, etc.)
  • 石頭 いしあたま obstinate person; stubbornness
  • 前頭 まえがしら rank-and-file wrestlers in the highest division

Related kanji

Same sound component 豆
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
16
Kangxi radical
181
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#433 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+0982D