蛇头

蛇頭

shétóu

noun #16,012

Meanings

1 head of a snake
2 human smuggler; snakehead

Characters

Examples

HSK 6

很多偷渡者都是通过蛇头出国的。

Hěnduō tōudùzhě dōu shì tōngguò shétóu chūguó de.

Many illegal immigrants went abroad through snakeheads.

HSK 7-9

警方逮捕了一个蛇头团伙。

Jǐngfāng dàibǔ le yīgè shétóu tuánhuǒ.

The police arrested a human smuggling gang.

Tips

culture

蛇头 specifically refers to the organizer of illegal human smuggling operations. The term became widely known in the 1990s with waves of Chinese immigration to the West. The migrants themselves are sometimes called 蛇仔.

Stroke Order

蛇 shé

头 tóu