頭とう

と

う

Meanings

counter for large animals; head of livestock; counter for collected insects or certain headgear

Most commonly counts large animals such as cattle, horses, elephants, or large dogs. It is also used in specialist contexts for insects in a collection, and in limited traditional or cataloguing contexts for helmets, masks, and similar items; other counters may be more ordinary for those objects in everyday speech.

牧ぼく場じょうで牛うしを三さん頭とう飼かっている。
They keep three head of cattle on the farm.
動どう物ぶつ園えんに新あたらしいゾウが一いっ頭とう来きた。
A new elephant came to the zoo.
この標ひょう本ほん箱ばこには蝶ちょうが二に十じっ頭とう並ならんでいる。
Twenty butterflies are arranged in this specimen box.

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Usage patterns

〈数すう〉頭とうの〈動どう物ぶつ〉counting a number of large animals
牧ぼく場じょうには牛うしが二に十じゅっ頭とういる。
There are twenty cows at the ranch.
象ぞうが〈数すう〉頭とうa certain number of elephants
動どう物ぶつ園えんには象ぞうが三さん頭とういる。
There are three elephants at the zoo.

Grammar

一人ひとり・二に本ほん・三さん冊さつnumbers and countersN5

Kanji

頭head, counter for large animals

Related words

匹ひきN3
匹 is the everyday counter for small and medium animals, fish, and pets, while 頭 is used for larger animals such as cattle, horses, or elephants.
羽わN3
羽 counts birds and, by convention, rabbits, whereas 頭 counts large mammals regardless of whether they fly.

Don't confuse with

頭とう数すう
頭数 is a noun meaning 'the number of animals (or people)', while 頭 is the counter suffix attached directly to a numeral like 三頭.
騎き
頭 counts the horses themselves, while 騎 counts the riders mounted on them, so the two are easily mixed up when describing cavalry.
羽わN3
羽 counts birds and rabbits, whereas 頭 counts large animals such as cattle, horses, and elephants.

Etymology

Semantically tied to 頭 meaning 'head'; as a counter it counts animals by individual heads, comparable to English 'head of cattle.' The extensions to collected insects and certain head-related objects are conventional specialist uses.