The word 舌头 is formed by combining two meaningful components: 舌, which is a pictographic character originally depicting a tongue protruding from a mouth, representing the organ itself, and 头, meaning "head". Together, they create a compound where 头 serves to nominalize and concretize 舌, specifying it as the physical, bodily part ("the head-thing of the tongue" or "tongue as a body part") rather than an abstract concept related to speech or taste.