钟头 from HSK Level 6 Vocabulary List

The Chinese word 钟头 (zhōngtóu) for "hour" is a compound of two characters: 钟 (zhōng), meaning "bell", and 头 (tóu), meaning "head". The original meaning of 钟头 was "the time when the bell rings", and it was used to refer to the hours of the day that were marked by the ringing of a bell. Over time, the meaning of 钟头 gradually shifted to refer to any hour of the day, regardless of whether or not a bell was rung.The character 钟 (zhōng) is derived from the ancient Chinese character 鏞 (yōng), which was a type of large bell used in ancient China. The character 头 (tóu) is derived from the ancient Chinese character 首 (shǒu), which means "head". The combination of these two characters creates the word 钟头 (zhōngtóu), which literally means "bell head" and figuratively refers to the "head" or "beginning" of an hour.In modern Chinese, 钟头 is commonly used to refer to an hour of time, and it can be used in both formal and informal contexts. For example, you could say 我工作了八个钟头 (wǒ gōngzuòle bā gè zhōngtóu), which means "I worked for eight hours". You could also say 我等了半个钟头 (wǒ děngle bàn gè zhōngtóu), which means "I waited for half an hour".