髑

dú
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 used in 髑髅: a skull (of a dead person)

Examples

HSK 7-9
庄子之楚,见髑髅。
Zhuāngzǐ zhī Chǔ, jiàn dúlóu.
Zhuangzi traveled to Chu and saw a skull by the road.
HSK 7-9
Dúlóu cháng yòngzuò wēixiǎn jǐnggào de biāozhì.
A skull is often used as a danger warning symbol.

Tips

culture
髑 appears only in 髑髅, a literary word for a bare skull. The image is famous from a 庄子 parable where the philosopher converses with a roadside skull about life and death.

Components

radical
骨 gǔ
bone
Left is the bone radical 骨, a joint above the flesh sign. It marks the character as something made of bone - here the bare bone of the head, the skull.
phonetic
蜀 shǔ
Shu (phonetic)
Right is 蜀, here only for sound, giving the dú reading after a shift. The same phonetic appears in 独 (alone) and 烛 (candle).

Stroke Order

髑 dú