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脑壳 (nǎo ké) — skull, cranium; (colloquial) head; (humorous) one's looks, general appearance

Definition

Literally 'skull/cranium', but in speech 脑壳 also just means 'head' — and jokingly, one's face or looks. Predominantly a southern/dialectal spoken usage, not standard northern Mandarin 头.

noun
skullcranium(colloquial) head(humorous) one's looksgeneral appearance
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 脑壳，。
    Yī shēng jiǎn chá le tā de nǎo ké, fā xiàn méi yǒu gǔ zhé.
    The doctor examined his skull and found no fracture.
  • ，脑壳。
    Wǒ zuó tiān méi shuì hǎo, xiàn zài nǎo ké yǒu diǎn téng.
    I didn't sleep well yesterday, and now my head hurts a bit.
  • 脑壳，。
    Nǐ zhè ge nǎo ké cháng dé zhēn yǒu yì si, xiàng diàn shì míng xīng.
    Your face (or 'head' in joking sense) really looks interesting, like a TV star.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

脑nǎobrain
壳késhell

The brain part and the shell part combine to mean the hard covering of the head.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 腦; 脑 is its simplified writing.

  • 匕匕bǐ
  • 巛巛chuānhair
  • 囟囟xìnhead; fontanel

In the traditional form 腦, the older part 匕 was replaced by a flesh part, while 巛 (hair) and 囟 (head; fontanel) stayed. The simplified 脑 is a later abbreviation.

Open 脑 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 殼; 壳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
几几jǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
㱿
㱿㱿殼ké(r)
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 殼 is built from 几 (the meaning part) and 㱿 (the sound part); the simplified 壳 is a later shorthand.

Open 壳 →
Appears in
Body Parts

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