overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

scalp.

The top of the head; the skull.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/skælp/
  1. The top of the head; the skull.

    dialectal
  2. The part of the head where the hair grows from, or used to grow from.

  3. The part of the head where the hair grows from, or used to grow from. A part of the skin of the head, with the hair attached, formerly cut or torn off from an enemy by warriors in some cultures as a token of victory.

    historical
    Some tribes used to collect scalps to prove how many of the enemy they had killed in battle.
  4. The part of the head where the hair grows from, or used to grow from. The skin of the head of a stag, to which the horns are attached.

  5. A victory, especially at the expense of someone else.

    figuratively
  6. A bed or stratum of shellfish.

    Scotland
  7. The top; the summit.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

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

verb/skælp/
  1. To remove the scalp (part of the head from where the hair grows), by brutal act or accident.

  2. To resell, especially tickets, usually for an inflated price, often illegally.

    Canada · US · slang
    Tickets were being scalped for $300.
  3. To bet on opposing competitors so as to make a profit from the bookmaker.

  4. On an open outcry exchange trading floor, to buy and sell rapidly for one's own account, aiming to buy from a seller and a little later sell to a buyer, making a small profit from the difference (roughly the amount of the bid/offer spread, or less).

  5. To screen or sieve ore before further processing.

    scalped ore
  6. To remove the skin of.

  7. To remove the grass from.

    transitive
  8. To destroy the political influence of.

    transitive
  9. To brush the hairs or fuzz from (wheat grains, etc.) in the process of high milling.

Where this word comes from

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

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

scalp has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

scalp studioscalp workshello, scalp

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.