The uppermost part of a person or animal's body; the head (including face and brain).
彼は自転車で転んで頭を打った。
He fell off his bike and hit his head.
帽子を頭にちゃんとかぶってください。
Please put your hat properly on your head.
Hair on the head; hair (colloquial).
近ごろは頭の毛が薄くなってきたと感じる。
Lately I feel the hair on my head is thinning.
彼女は頭を黒く染めてイメージを変えた。
She dyed the hair on her head black to change her image.
The mind, brains, or intellect; one’s mental ability or judgement.
この問題を解くには頭を使わないといけない。
You have to use your brain to solve this problem.
あの人は頭がいいので、説明が早い。
That person is intelligent, so they understand explanations quickly.
A leader, chief, boss, or head of a group or organization.
その山賊の頭は捕らえられた。
The leader of those bandits was captured.
班の頭は田中さんです。
The group leader is Tanaka.
The top or tip of something; the uppermost part (e.g., the head of a nail).
釘の頭をハンマーで軽く叩いて固定した。
I lightly hit the head of the nail with a hammer to secure it.
ボトルの頭を回して開ける。
Turn the top of the bottle to open it.
The beginning or start of something (e.g., the head of the year).
年の頭に新しい目標を立てた。
I set new goals at the beginning of the year.
話の頭に前提を説明しておくと分かりやすい。
Explaining the premise at the start of the talk makes it easier to understand.
Used to refer to a person or a role (e.g., 'that head' = that person); appears in compounds relating to number of people (cf. 頭数).
連絡係の頭は誰か決めてください。
Please decide who will be the head (person in charge) of communications.
出席する頭数を確認しておいてください。
Please check the number of people who will attend.
A colloquial abbreviation of '頭金' (down payment); the deposit paid upfront when purchasing something.
車を買うために頭（あたま）を50万円用意した。
I prepared 500,000 yen as a down payment to buy a car.
家の購入では頭を多めに入れることが求められる場合がある。
When buying a house, you may be required to put in a larger down payment.
The top structural component of a kanji character (a technical term; sometimes read 'かしら').
この漢字の頭（かしら）は冠（かんむり）の形をしている。
The top component of this kanji has the shape of a crown (kanmuri).
字典で字の頭と部首の違いを調べた。
I looked up the difference between the top part of a character and its radical in the dictionary.
In mahjong, the pair of identical tiles (a pair) is sometimes called the 'head' (colloquial).
麻雀で和了するには有効な頭が必要だ。
In mahjong, you need a suitable pair (head) to complete a winning hand.
この局では字牌の頭が高く評価されることがある。
In this round, a pair of honor tiles (a head) can sometimes be scored highly.