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骷髅 (kū lóu) — (human) skeleton; (human) skull

Definition

Literary/literati term for a (human) skeleton or skull — more evocative than plain 骨头, often used for imagery (pirate flags, horror, Halloween) rather than clinical contexts.

noun
(human) skeleton(human) skull
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 骷髅。
    Tā men zài shān dòng lǐ fā xiàn le yí jù kū lóu.
    They found a skeleton in the cave.
  • 骷髅。
    Hǎi dào qí shàng huà zhe yí gè kū lóu hé liǎng gēn gǔ tou.
    On the pirate flag is drawn a skull and two bones (crossbones).
  • ，骷髅。
    Wàn shèng jié de shí hou, tā dài le yí gè kū lóu miàn jù.
    During Halloween, he wore a skull mask.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

骷kū
髅lóu

The characters 骷 and 髅 carry no meaning of their own here; together they name a human skeleton.

Sound-only characters

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
骨骨gǔbone
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ骷
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

骷 combines 骨 (bone) with 古, which gives the sound.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in
Body Parts

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