Chinese symbol for “skull”
头骨
tóu gǔ
Traditional: 頭骨
skull
The closest CC-CEDICT match for skull is 头骨 (tóu gǔ), defined as: skull.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “skull”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 颅骨 (顱骨) | lú gǔ | skull (of a dead body) |
| 头盖骨 (頭蓋骨) | tóu gài gǔ | skull; cranium |
| 头盖 (頭蓋) | tóu gài | skull; cranium |
| 脑瓜 (腦瓜) | nǎo guā | skull; brain |
| 脑袋 (腦袋) | nǎo dai | head; skull |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 头骨.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 头发 (頭髮) | tóu fa | hair (on the head) |
| 街头 (街頭) | jiē tóu | street |
| 镜头 (鏡頭) | jìng tóu | camera lens; camera shot (in a movie etc) |
| 石头 (石頭) | shí tou | stone; 块 (kuài) |
| 码头 (碼頭) | mǎ tou | wharf; dock; quay; pier |
| 回头 (回頭) | huí tóu | to turn round; to turn one's head; later; by and by |
| 骨头 (骨頭) | gǔ tou | bone; measure word: 根 (gēn), 块 (kuài) |
| 骨干 (骨幹) | gǔ gàn | diaphysis (long segment of a bone); fig. backbone |
See also: Japanese symbol for “skull”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.
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