Chinese words starting with “tou”
30 words in our HSK vocabulary start with the syllable tou. They are sorted by how common they are, so the ones you are most likely to meet come first. The 5 most useful of them have their own page — they are listed first below.
Initial t · final ou · hear the four tones and see example characters →
- 1st tone 5
- 2nd tone 18
- 4th tone 7
Word counts by tone are counted on the first syllable of each word.
Common words with this syllable
- 投票tóu piàoHSK 6
to vote; vote
- 投资tóu zīHSK 4
investment; to invest
- 头发tóu faHSK 2
hair (on the head)
- 投入tóu rùHSK 4
to throw into; to put into; to throw oneself into; to participate in; to invest in; absorbed; engrossed
- 头脑tóu nǎoHSK 3
brains; mind; skull; (fig.) gist (of a matter); leader; boss
All 30 words
| # | Word | Pinyin | POS | Meaning | Study list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 头 | tóu | n,q,m,k | head; hair style; the top; end; beginning or end; a stub; remnant; chief; boss; side; aspect; first; leading; classifier for pigs or livestock | |
| 2 | 投 | tóu | v | to cast; to send; to throw oneself (into the river etc); to seek refuge; to place oneself into the hands of | |
| 3 | 偷 | tōu | v,d | to steal; to pilfer; to snatch; thief; stealthily | |
| 4 | 透 | tòu | a,v | (bound form) to penetrate; to seep through; to tell secretly; to leak; thoroughly; through and through; to appear; to show | |
| 5 | 透露 | tòu lù | v | to leak out; to divulge; to reveal | |
| 6 | 头部 | tóu bù | n | head | |
| 7 | 投诉 | tóu sù | v,vn | complaint; to complain; to register a complaint (esp. as a customer) | |
| 8 | 偷偷 | tōu tōu | d | stealthily; secretly; covertly; furtively; on the sly | |
| 9 | 投降 | tóu xiáng | v,vn | to surrender; surrender | |
| 10 | 头疼 | tóu téng | a | headache | |
| 11 | 透过 | tòu guò | v | to pass through; to penetrate; by means of; via | |
| 12 | 透明 | tòu míng | a,ad | transparent; (fig.) transparent; open to scrutiny | |
| 13 | 头号 | tóu hào | b | first rate; top rank; number one | |
| 14 | 头晕 | tóu yūn | v | dizzy | |
| 15 | 头顶 | tóu dǐng | n,v | top of the head | |
| 16 | 头衔 | tóu xián | n | title; rank; appellation | |
| 17 | 投机 | tóu jī | vn,v,a | to speculate (on financial markets); opportunistic; congenial; agreeable | |
| 18 | 投稿 | tóu gǎo | v,vn | to submit articles for publication; to contribute (writing) | |
| 19 | 投身 | tóu shēn | v | to throw oneself into sth | |
| 20 | 透气 | tòu qì | v | to flow freely (of air); to ventilate; to breathe (of fabric etc); to take a breath of fresh air; to divulge | |
| 21 | 偷懒 | tōu lǎn | v | to goof off; to be lazy | |
| 22 | 偷看 | tōu kàn | v | to peep; to peek; to steal a glance | |
| 23 | 透支 | tòu zhī | v,vn | (banking) to overdraw; to take out an overdraft; an overdraft; to overspend (i.e. expenditure in excess of revenue); (old) to draw one's wage in advance; (fig.) to exhaust (one's enthusiasm, energy etc); to damage a natural resource through overuse | |
| 24 | 偷窥 | tōu kuī | v | to peep; to peek; to act as voyeur | |
| 25 | 头条 | tóu tiáo | n | lead story (on the news) | |
| 26 | 透彻 | tòu chè | a,ad | penetrating; thorough; incisive | |
| 27 | 投掷 | tóu zhì | v | to throw sth a long distance; to hurl; to throw at; to throw (dice etc); to flip (a coin) | |
| 28 | 投射 | tóu shè | v | to throw (a projectile); to cast (light) | |
| 29 | 投奔 | tóu bèn | v | to seek shelter; to seek asylum | |
| 30 | 头头是道 | tóu tóu shì dào | l | clear and logical |
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