脖颈 (bógěng): back of the neck

Meanings

1 back of the neck
2 nape

Characters

脖

Examples

她的脖颈上有一颗小痣。

Tā de bógěng shàng yǒu yì kē xiǎo zhì.

She has a small mole on the back of her neck.

他擦了擦脖颈上的汗。

Tā cā le cā bógěng shàng de hàn.

He wiped the sweat from the back of his neck.

Tips

usage

脖颈 specifically refers to the BACK of the neck (the nape), while plain 脖子 (bózi) covers the whole neck. Note also the colloquial reading 脖颈儿 (bógěngr) with the 儿 suffix, common in Beijing speech. 颈 here is gěng (3rd tone), the colloquial reading; in formal compounds like 颈部 (jǐngbù, "neck region") it's read jǐng.