源头

yuán tóu

HSK 7–9

Meaning

水源；比喻事物的根源或起源。

Water source; metaphorically, the root or origin of something.

常用来指问题的根源、事物的起源或来源，可引申为根本原因或起始点。

Often used to refer to the root cause of a problem, the origin of something, or the starting point.

1 我们要找到问题的源头，才能彻底解决。 (We need to find the root cause of the problem to solve it completely.)
2 这条河的源头在雪山之上。 (The source of this river is on the snow-capped mountain.)
3 他追溯了这项技术的源头，发现它源自古代发明。 (He traced the origin of this technology and found it came from an ancient invention.)
4 污染的源头是工厂排放的废水。 (The source of the pollution is the wastewater discharged by the factory.)
5 对于谣言，我们必须从源头查起。 (For rumors, we must investigate from the source.)

Exam-style HSK drills with instant scoring and explanations.

Free · about 3 minutes · no account needed

The free HSK Training extension shows pinyin, meaning and HSK level when you hover Chinese text — anywhere on the web.