# skull

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈskʌl/ · frequency rank #6,183

## Definitions
1. The main bones of the head considered as a unit; including the cranium, facial bones, and mandible.
2. These bones as a symbol for death; death's-head.
3. The mind or brain.
4. A crust formed on the ladle, etc. by the partial cooling of molten metal.
5. The crown of the headpiece in armour.
6. A shallow bow-handled basket.
7. The head or master of a college.

## Etymology
From Middle English sculle, scolle (also schulle, scholle), probably from a dialectal form of Old Norse skalli (“bald head, skull”), itself probably related to Old English sċealu (“husk”), to Proto-Norse *ᛋᚲᚨᛚᛟ (*skalo), from Proto-Germanic *skallô; compare Finnish skallo. Compare Scots scull, Danish skal (“skull”) and skalle (“bald head, skull”), Norwegian skalle, Swedish skalle and especially dialectal Swedish skulle.
Related to Old Norse skoltr (“brow”), skolptr (“muzzle, snout”), akin to Icelandic skoltur (“jaw”), dialectal Swedish skult, skulle (“dome, crown of the head, skull”), Norwegian Nynorsk skult, skolt (“cranium, head (of a hammer); crag; hub”), Middle Dutch scolle, scholle, Middle Low German scholle, schulle (“clod, sod”), and Scots skult, skolt. Compare also Old High German sciula, skiula (“skull”). Possibly related to Latin celsus (“lofty, high, tall”), collis (“hill”).
Also related to Old Norse skǫllóttr, Icelandic sköllóttur, Old Swedish skallotter, Swedish skallig, Danish skaldet, Norwegian skallet (“bald”).

## Easily confused with
- **Sul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-sul)
- **soul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-soul)
- **Sulu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-sulu)
- **still** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-still)
- **small** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-small)
- **smell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-smell)
- **spell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-spell)
- **souls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-souls)
- **spill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-spill)
- **stall** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-stall)
- **swell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-swell)
- **sully** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-sully)
- **skunk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-skunk)
- **snell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-snell)
- **Stoll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-stoll)
- **squall** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-squall)
- **sell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sell-vs-skull)
- **Saul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/saul-vs-skull)
- **sill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sill-vs-skull)
- **shall** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shall-vs-skull)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ksull`, `skkull`, `sklul`, `skul`, `sskull`, `sukll`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/skull