Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced tou
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced tou, including 头 tóu / tou, 投 tóu, 透 tòu, 偷 tōu. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
For tou, push a small puff of air on t, join it to ou, and hold the tone over the whole syllable.
Initial t
Start the syllable on the initial t, then run straight into the final ou — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final ou
Settle the final ou into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (头 tóu / tou, 投 tóu, 透 tòu, 偷 tōu) and lock in their tones. 4 common characters share the sound tou, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
tou turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 偷 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 头, 投 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 透 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing tou inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
4 common characters in this group.