Kanji Study

Bushu (Radical) Info:
豆 (まめ) – bean
頁 (おおがい) – page

Henshall Mnemonic: head is a bean-like vessel

Levels: JLPT N3 | JLPT 3 (old) | Grade 2
Frequency: #433 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).
Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N5 Words

• 頭   [あたま]
  (n) head   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N4 Words

• 到頭   [とうとう]
  (adv) (uk) finally; at last; reaching a head   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

• 頭痛   [ずつう]
  (n) headache   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 頭脳   [ずのう]
  (n) head; brains; intellect   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 先頭   [せんとう]
  (n) head; lead; vanguard; first   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭   [とう]
  counter for large animals   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 街頭   [がいとう]
  (n) in the street   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 冒頭   [ぼうとう]
  (adv,n) beginning; start; outset   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 口頭   [こうとう]
  (n) oral   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭   [かしら]
  (n) head   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 頭角   [とうかく]
  (n) distinguishing oneself; standing out; top of the head   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 前頭   [まえがしら]
  (n) fifth grade sumo wrestler   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 教頭   [きょうとう]
  (n) deputy head teacher; vice principal   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭骨   [とうこつ]
  (n) skull   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 弾頭   [だんとう]
  (n) warhead   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭取   [とうどり]
  (n) (bank) president   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭上   [ずじょう]
  (n) overhead; high in sky   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭打ち   [あたまうち]
  (n) reaching a peak; reaching the limit   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 核弾頭   [かくだんとう]
  (n) nuclear warhead   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭髪   [とうはつ]
  (n) hair (of head)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭部   [とうぶ]
  (n) the head   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 頭文字   [かしらもじ]
  (n) initials; first letter of a word   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 出頭   [しゅっとう]
  (n,vs) appearance; presence   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 店頭   [てんとう]
  (n) shop front; counter; shop; over-the-counter (financial)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 筆頭   [ひっとう]
  (n) brush tip; first on a list   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 年頭   [ねんとう]
  (n) the oldest person; beginning of the year   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 音頭   [おんど]
  (n) workmen's songs; marching songs   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 初頭   [しょとう]
  (n-adv,n-t) beginning   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 石頭   [いしあたま]
  (n) inflexible person   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 台頭   [たいとう]
  (n) rise of; appearance of   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 念頭   [ねんとう]
  (n) mind   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 会頭   [かいとう]
  (n) society president   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 陣頭   [じんとう]
  (n) head of an army   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 口頭弁論   [こうとうべんろん]
  oral proceedings; oral pleadings   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 目頭   [めがしら]
  (n) inner canthus; eyes   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 頭 at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.