关头
guān toú · HSK 7
moment
🚪 关 gate/pass + 头 head = the 'head of the pass', the make-or-break point
关 means a gate or mountain pass (a checkpoint you must get through), and 头 means head or tip. Together they mark the head of the pass: the decisive juncture where things turn. Often in 紧要关头, a critical moment.
关 — door 门 + simplified 关 inside
关 is the simplified form of 關. The traditional character showed a gate (門) with a bolt or crossbar inside, depicting a barred door — hence 'to close' or 'shut'. Meaning later extended to 'pass' (a guarded gate), 'barrier', and figuratively 'concern' or 'connection'.
头 — 页 (head/page) + 豆 (bean, phonetic)
The traditional form 頭 combines 頁 (xié), meaning 'head', with 豆 (dòu) as the phonetic component. 頁 itself originally depicted a person with an emphasized head. The simplified form 头 is a modern shorthand that replaces 豆+頁 with a simpler shape while keeping the same meaning of 'head' or 'top'.