髑髏

Cognate with 頭顱 (OC *doː b·raː) and 𩑒顱 (MC dak|traek|trhaek lu). The first syllable 髑 (OC *doːɡ) is a Sino-Tibetan item probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tuk ~ *twak (“head; skull; neck”), whence also 脰 (OC *doːs, “neck”). The second syllable, 髏 (OC *roː) is likely a reduplication syllable starting with *r/*l (Schuessler, 2007). Alternatively but less likely, the second syllable is related to 婁 (OC *ɡ·roː) with a hypothetical meaning of "empty" or "dried" (see 婁婁／娄娄 (“empty”)); compare Mizo lu ro (“skull”) (lit. "dried head"), with the second syllable ro meaning "dry".

Words that appear similar to 髑髏 (OC *doːɡ roː) include 顱 (MC lu, “skull”) and Khmer រលា (rɔliə, “forehead; cranium; skull”).

髑髏

1. skull of a corpse

   • 莊子之楚，見空髑髏。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     庄子之楚，见空髑髅。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Zhuāngzǐ zhī Chǔ, jiàn kōng dúlóu.

     When Zhuangzi went to Chu, he saw an empty skull.

2. head of a corpse

From Middle Chinese 髑髏 (MC duwk luw, “skull”).

• (Tokyo) どくろ (Atamadaka – )^[1][2][3]
• IPA^(key):

髑(どく)髏(ろ) • (dokuro) 

1. a weathered clean skull
2. a death's head

• 髑(どく)髏(ろ)崇(すう)拝(はい) (dokuro sūhai): a skull cult
• 髑(どく)髏(ろ)杯(はい) (dokurohai): a goblet made from a skull

/sarekaube/ → /sarekɔːbe/ → /sarekoːbe/

Compound of 曝れ (sare, “weathering”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 曝れる (sareru, “to weather, to degrade in color or form due to long exposure to wind, rain, and sun”)) +‎ 頭 (kōbe, “head”).^[4][5][1][3]

The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓).

The fricative readings are less common, and derive as shifts from sarekōbe:

• /sarekoːbe/ → /ɕarekoːbe/
• /sarekoːbe/ → /ɕarekoːbe/ → /ɕarikoːbe/

• (Tokyo) されこーべ (Nakadaka – )^[1][2][3]
• IPA^(key):

• (Tokyo) しゃれこーべ (Nakadaka – )^[1][2][3]
• IPA^(key):

• (Tokyo) しゃりこーべ (Nakadaka – )^[1][2]
• IPA^(key):

髑髏(されこうべ) • (sarekōbe) ^{←されかうべ (sarekaube)?}
(alternative reading hiragana しゃれこうべ, rōmaji sharekōbe, historical hiragana しやれかうべ)
(alternative reading hiragana しゃりこうべ, rōmaji sharikōbe, historical hiragana しやりかうべ)

1. a weathered clean skull

Basic sense of skull:

• 頭(かしら)骨(ぼね) (kashirabone), 頭(とう)骨(こつ) (tōkotsu)
• 頭(ず)蓋(がい) (zugai), 頭(とう)蓋(がい) (tōgai)
• 頭(ず)蓋(がい)骨(こつ) (zugaikotsu), 頭(とう)蓋(がい)骨(こつ) (tōgaikotsu)