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scalp

UK/skælp/US/skælp/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,332 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: scalps

The scalp is the skin on top of your head, where the hair grows out of. Thick, and remarkably well supplied with blood.

That blood supply is why a small cut there bleeds alarmingly and why it heals fast. Dandruff and psoriasis are scalp conditions rather than hair ones. The verb has a grim historical sense from the practice of taking scalps as trophies, which was carried out by several groups including European settlers who paid bounties for them. Ticket touts are said to scalp tickets in American English.

HorsePunchKid · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of scalp

  1. 1nounscalpThe skin covering the top of the head.B2

    “The sun had burnt his scalp through his hair.”

Where it comes from

Scalp was a northern word for the crown of the head or the skull. Its background is unclear, though Old Norse skálpr, a sheath, sits close by, which would make the scalp a covering for the skull.

  1. Middle English

    scalp

  2. English, today

    scalp

Built from

  • scalpe · Middle English — crown of the head; skull

From Middle English scalp, skalp, scalpe (“crown of the head; skull”). Originally a northern word, and therefore probably from a gmq source, although the sense-development is unclear; compare Sylt frr Skolp (“dandruff”), Old Norse skálpr (“sheath”), gmq-osw skalp, Dutch schelp (“shell”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Body & Health, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 38 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

scalp in the wild

  • For example, terminal hairs grow on the scalp and lanugo hairs are seen covering the bodies of fetuses in the uterus and in some newborn babies.

    Hair follicle

  • Areas of the skin rich in oil-producing glands are often affected including the scalp, face, and chest.

    Seborrhoeic dermatitis

  • In babies, when the scalp is primarily involved, it is called cradle cap.

    Seborrhoeic dermatitis

  • The scalp is the area of the head where head hair grows.

    Scalp

  • The scalp is bordered by the face at the front, and by the neck at the sides and back.

    Scalp

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • scalp massage