磕 头

kē tóudictionary entry

to kowtow (traditional greeting, esp. to a superior, involving kneeling and pressing one's forehead to the ground)

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-770a21d425d7b3ac. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

磕頭 磕头 [ke1 tou2] /to kowtow (traditional greeting, esp. to a superior, involving kneeling and pressing one's forehead to the ground)/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 磕頭

磕
kē
to tap / to knock (against sth hard) / (esp.) to knock (mud from boots, ash from a pipe etc) / (fandom slang) to be into (a character relationship, dynamic, or trope)
kè
See the full entry for source details.
头
tóu
head / hair style / the top / end / beginning or end / a stub / remnant / chief / boss / side / aspect / first / leading / classifier for pigs or livestock / CL:個|个[gè]
tou
suffix for nouns

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.