髅 (lóu): (in 骷髅 / 髑髅) skeleton; skull

Meanings

警示牌上画着一个狰狞的骷髅。

Jǐngshìpái shang huà zhe yíge zhēngníng de kūlóu.

A grinning skull was painted on the warning sign.

古诗借荒野的髑髅感叹人生无常。

Gǔshī jiè huāngyě de dúlóu gǎntàn rénshēng wúcháng.

The old poem uses a bleached skull to lament the impermanence of life.

usage

髅 is a bound character with no standalone use. It appears only in 骷髅 (骷髅, everyday 'skeleton/skull') and the more literary 髑髅 (髑髅, 'skull').

radical

骨 gǔ

bone

骨 is the bone radical. The word names a frame of dry bones, so the bone radical directly supplies the meaning.

phonetic

娄 lóu

phonetic

娄 supplies the sound lóu directly. It belongs to a wide phonetic family (楼, 搂, 篓) and adds no meaning here.

髅 lóu