DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

剃光頭

简剃光头 · 繁剃光頭

Mandarin · pinyin tì guāng tóu

to shave the whole head clean
crushing defeat

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

剃: tì · shave
光: guāng · light, brilliant, shine; only
頭: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss
头: tóu · head; top; chief, first; boss

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–1–2 · ti4 guang1 tou2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

剃光頭 · find source passages ↗ · 剃光头 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

(verb-object) to shave the whole head clean; to shave one's head
(figurative, humorous) to make someone suffer a humiliating defeat; to win a game where the opponent scores zero

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack