The word 斧头 is formed through a common Chinese morphological process where the core meaning-carrying character 斧 (fǔ), which means "axe", is combined with the suffix 头 (tou). In this construction, 头 does not retain its literal meaning of "head" but instead functions as a nominalizing suffix that adds a concrete, colloquial quality to the root word. This results in a disyllabic compound that is more colloquial and specific than the single character 斧, fitting the rhythmic and stylistic patterns of modern spoken Mandarin while denoting the same tool.