髑髅

髑髏

dúlóu

noun #88,523

Meanings

1 skull (of a dead person)
2 death's-head

Characters

skull; skeleton

Examples

HSK 7-9

古墓里只剩下一个髑髅和几块骨头。

Gǔmù lǐ zhǐ shèngxià yí ge dúlóu hé jǐ kuài gǔtou.

All that was left in the ancient tomb was a skull and a few bones.

HSK 7-9

庄子梦见一个髑髅跟他谈论生死。

Zhuāngzǐ mèngjiàn yí ge dúlóu gēn tā tánlùn shēngsǐ.

Zhuangzi dreamed that a skull talked with him about life and death.

Tips

register

髑髅 is the literary word. Everyday Chinese says 骷髅, and the anatomical term is 头骨.

culture

In the 庄子, Zhuangzi finds a bare skull on the road to Chu, sleeps with it as his pillow, and dreams that it tells him the dead have no ruler above and no subjects below, a joy no king can match. Zhang Heng and Cao Zhi both later wrote pieces on the same scene.

Stroke Order

髑 dú

髅 lóu