乳頭 / 乳头
rǔtóu
In Chinese, the word for nipple is 乳頭 / 乳头 (rǔtóu). If unsure, use 乳頭 / 乳头. Wiktionary also lists 奶頭 / 奶头 (nǎitóu).
Meaning: projection of mammary gland (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 乳頭 / 乳头 | rǔtóu |
| 奶頭 / 奶头 | nǎitóu |
The term refers to the projection of a mammary gland.
What does it mean word for word?
The word 乳頭 / 乳头 is composed of 乳 (rǔ), meaning milk or mammary and 头 (tóu), meaning head or tip.
Which one should you use?
乳頭 / 乳头 is the standard anatomical term, whereas 奶頭 / 奶头 is used more frequently in everyday speech.
How do you pronounce it?
rǔtóu
Did you know?
- While 乳頭 is the medical term, the word 奶頭 (nǎitóu) is frequently used to describe the rubber tip of a baby's feeding bottle.
- In certain Chinese dialects, the character 头 (tóu), which means 'head', is used as a suffix to denote the smallest-sized version of an object, such as in 'nipple' or 'button'.
- The word 乳 (rǔ) is used to form the name of the 乳制品 (rǔzhìpǐn) or 'dairy products' industry, linking the anatomical term directly to the food category.
Example sentences for Chinese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “nipple” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
