The term 二锅头 names a Chinese liquor, formed from three characters: 二 (èr) meaning "two", 锅 (guō) meaning "pot" or "cauldron", and 头 (tóu) meaning "head". It directly references a traditional distillation method where the first batch of distillate from the pot is discarded, and the second batch ("二锅"), specifically the initial part or "head" of that second distillation ("头"), is collected as the final spirit.