上头 (shàng tóu) means to go to one’s head; to capture attention; with a different reading, the upper part or authorities.
Dictionary reading and meanings#
shàng tóu: (of alcohol, love etc) to go to one's head; (of an idea, a song etc) to get into one's head; to capture one's attention; (old) (of a girl on her wedding day) to start wearing one's hair in a bun (rather than a plait)
shàng tou: the top; the upper part; (its) surface; the authorities; those in charge; the higher-ups
Reading the pinyin#
For the alternative neutral-tone reading, this page uses an unmarked syllable instead of the source dictionary’s number 5. Open University’s tone guide illustrates unmarked neutral-tone syllables.
The spelling above follows the dictionary headword reading. It is a citation form, rather than a recording of a particular speaker. A written gloss is not a complete rule for choosing a word in every sentence.
Does this word always have one English translation?#
Use the listed sense that fits the sentence. Where the dictionary gives more than one reading or meaning, they are shown above rather than collapsed into a single universal translation.
Sources and lexical-data licence#
Lexical data adapted from CC-CEDICT contributors, distributed by MDBG, release dated 23 October 2026. English glosses have been shortened or reformatted here. This adapted lexical data is provided under CC BY-SA 4.0. The explanatory prose is newly written.