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HSK 3

头发

hair (on head)

nounneutral
头
tóu2nd tone
发
faneutral tone

HSK level

1
2
3
4
5
6
Pinyin
tóufa
Part of speech
noun
Level
HSK 3
Strokes
10
Register
neutral
Measure word
根 / 头

Stroke order for 头发

头发 is written with 10 strokes (头: 5, 发: 5). The animation replays automatically.

What does 头发 mean?

头发 (tóufa) means the hair on a person's head — and ONLY that.

Chinese is more precise than English here: 头发 is scalp hair; 毛 covers body hair / animal fur; 胡子 is facial hair / beard. Note the second character 发 is pronounced 'fa' (neutral tone) here, not the standard 'fā' — a common pronunciation trap. Common verbs: 剪头发 ('cut hair'), 洗头发 / 洗头 ('wash hair'), 染头发 ('dye hair'), 梳头发 ('comb hair').

To talk about a hairstyle, native speakers say 发型 (fàxíng) — and here 发 returns to the first tone. Length descriptors: 长头发 ('long hair'), 短头发 ('short hair'), 卷头发 ('curly hair'), 直头发 ('straight hair').

Character by character

头tóuhead
+
发fahair (neutral tone in this word)
=
头发

Memory hook: Head (头) + hair-character (发) — but remember the second syllable goes neutral tone.

Example sentences

她的头发很长。

Tā de tóufa hěn cháng.

Her hair is very long.

neutral

我明天要去剪头发。

Wǒ míngtiān yào qù jiǎn tóufa.

I'm going to get a haircut tomorrow.

spoken

爷爷的头发都白了。

Yéye de tóufa dōu bái le.

Grandpa's hair has all turned white.

neutral

你今天的头发很好看。

Nǐ jīntiān de tóufa hěn hǎokàn.

Your hair looks great today.

spoken

Common phrases with 头发

剪头发jiǎn tóufato cut hair
洗头发xǐ tóufato wash hair
长头发cháng tóufalong hair
黑头发hēi tóufablack hair
白头发bái tóufawhite/gray hair

Synonyms

头tóu

In casual speech 洗头 ('wash head') is more common than 洗头发. 头 alone usually means 'head'; in 洗头 / 梳头 it stands in shorthand for the hair on it.

发fà

发 alone (first tone) is the literary / compound form: 染发 'dye one's hair,' 发型 'hairstyle.' In daily speech use 头发.

Don't confuse 头发 with

毛máo

毛 is body hair / animal fur / feathers. Use 头发 strictly for hair on the human head; 毛 for everything else (arm hair, dog fur).

胡子húzi

胡子 is facial hair / beard / mustache. Don't use 头发 for what grows below the chin.

FAQ

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