口頭
こうとう · koutou · JLPT N1 · na-adj
oral
🗣️ 口 (mouth) + 頭 (head) = oral: spoken with the mouth, not written
口頭 pairs 口 (mouth) with 頭 (head, here meaning the front or top of something). Oral exams and oral reports are delivered by mouth, not on paper.
口 — pictograph of an open mouth
口 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn as a simple outline of an open mouth. Its core meaning 'mouth' extended naturally to 'opening' or 'entrance', as in 入口 (entrance). It also serves as a common radical in characters related to speech, eating, or apertures.