骨头

• Pinyin: gǔ tou
• Hanzi breakdown: 骨 = pictograph of bones/skeleton; 头 = noun suffix making it a colloquial everyday word

Meaning

Bone. The hard tissue forming the skeleton of vertebrates.

Used literally for bones in the body and also in cooking (骨头汤, bone broth). Figuratively, it can describe a person's character or toughness: 硬骨头 (a tough person, literally 'hard bone'). Also used in the idiom 鸡蛋里挑骨头 (to find fault with everything, literally 'picking bones from an egg').

Examples

1. 小狗最喜欢啃骨头了。 The puppy loves gnawing on bones.
2. 他摔倒后骨头受了伤。 He injured his bones after falling down.
3. 多喝牛奶对骨头有好处。 Drinking more milk is good for your bones.

Usage Guide

Context: medical, everyday

Tone: colloquial

Do Say

• 他的骨头还没有完全长好。(His bones haven't fully healed yet.)
• 这道排骨汤要先把骨头煮一下。(For this rib soup, you need to boil the bones first.)

Don't Say

• 我的骨头很累 (Bones don't get tired — use 身体 for body or 腿 for legs; say 我浑身酸痛 for 'my whole body aches')

Origin & History

骨 (bone, a pictograph of skeletal remains) + 头 (head/noun suffix). 头 here functions as a colloquial noun suffix, softening the word for everyday use.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal