Chinese word

首

Pronunciation

Pinyinshǒu

Meaning

  • measure wordsong

Example

给我推荐两首好听的歌。gěi wǒ tuī jiàn liáng shǒu hǎo tīng de gē

Recommend two good songs to me.

Illustration for 首 (song)

More examples

她在聚会上唱了三首歌。tā zài jù huì shàng chàng le sān shǒu gē

At the party, she sang three songs.

Core concept

A whole piece treated as one head-like unit, with the physical head at the top of the body and a song or poem standing as one unit in a series.

Common phrases

  • 一首歌yì shǒu gē

    a song

  • 两首歌liáng shǒu gē

    two songs

  • 三首歌sān shǒu gē

    three songs

Similar words

个gè: Counts people and everyday objects in a general way.
条tiáo: Used for long, narrow objects, roads, and separate pieces of writing.
次cì: Shows how many times an action or event happens.
遍biàn: Counts each time an action is carried out from start to finish.

Definition in Chinese

身体上位于颈部以上的部分，也常用作量词，用来计数诗歌、歌曲等一首一首的作品。shēn tǐ shàng wèi yú jǐng bù yǐ shàng de bù fèn yě cháng yòng zuò liàng cí yòng lái jì shù shī gē gē qǔ děng yì shǒu yì shǒu de zuò pǐn

Word origin

首 (shǒu, "head") began as a picture of a head, and the ideas of being first and forming a complete unit led to its use as a counter for poems and songs.

Usage tips

  • The classifier is selective rather than general: it fits artistic compositions such as songs and poems, but not people, books, or everyday objects.

Other meanings

  • headnoun

Related words

Word lists with this word