头条
toú tiáo · HSK 7
lead story (on the news)
📰 头条 = 头 head + 条 item = the head item on the news = lead story
头 (tóu) is head/top and 条 (tiáo) counts long strips and news items. The head item of the day is the lead story — the top headline. Sound: toú tiáo.
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'.
条 — 攵 (tap) + 木 (tree); originally 攸 + 木
Originally written with 攸 (a flowing stream) over 木 (tree), 条 depicted slender twigs or branches of a tree. The meaning extended from 'thin branch' to any long, narrow item, then to 'strip,' 'item,' or 'article' as a measure word. The modern simplified form keeps 攵 over 木.