Meaning of 首
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- head
- chief
- first (occasion, thing etc)
- classifier for poems, songs etc
How to use 首
As a measure word, 首 is the standard classifier for songs and poems. As a noun meaning head, chief or first, it mostly appears in compounds like 首都 (shǒudū) and 首先 (shǒuxiān). Example: 我想唱一首歌。(Wǒ xiǎng chàng yì shǒu gē.) I want to sing a song.
Picture 首 (shǒu) as a head: the two little strokes on top are hair, and the box 目 shape below is the face with an eye. The head is the top and most important part of the body, so 首 also means chief and first.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 首 (shǒu) with 手 (shǒu, hand), since they sound exactly the same. Another common slip is using 个 (gè) for songs. Say 一首歌 (yì shǒu gē), not 一个歌.
首 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
首 shǒu · head · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 首.
| 首先 | shǒuxiān | first of all; in the first place |
| 首都 | shǒudū | capital (city) |
| 首相 | shǒuxiàng | prime minister (of Japan or UK etc) |
| 首席 | shǒuxí | seat of honor; chief (representative, correspondent etc) |
| 首次 | shǒucì | first; first time |
| 首脑 | shǒunǎo | head (of state); summit (meeting) |
| 元首 | yuánshǒu | head of state |
| 首要 | shǒuyào | the most important; of chief importance |
| 首饰 | shǒushì | jewelry; head ornament |
| 罪魁祸首 | zuìkuí-huòshǒu | (idiom) criminal ringleader; main offender; main culprit; main cause of a disaster |
| 首府 | shǒufǔ | capital city of an autonomous region |
| 回首 | huíshǒu | to turn around; to look back; (fig.) to recall the past |
Questions about 首
What does 首 mean?
首 (shǒu) means "head; chief" and is used as a measure word and noun.
How do you write 首?
首 is made of 1 character: 首 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 首 an HSK word?
Yes. 首 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I use 首 to mean head in everyday speech?
Not usually. In daily conversation people say 头 (tóu) for the body part. 首 as head sounds formal or literary and mostly survives in set words.
What is the difference between 首先 and 第一?
首先 (shǒuxiān) means first of all and is used to order steps or points in speech, often followed by 然后 or 其次. 第一 (dì yī) is the ordinal number first, as in first place or the first item.