đầu lâu

Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 頭 (“head”) and 髏, probably corrupted from Chinese 髑髏 / 髑髅 (độc lâu, “dead skull”).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəw˨˩ ləw˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəw˦˩ ləw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəw˨˩ ləw˧˧]

Noun

đầu lâu

1. (colloquial) a skull of a dead vertebrate

Synonyms

• sọ, hộp sọ (refers to dead or alive skulls, from a scientific point of view)