nape
nape — noun
- napesingular
- napesplural
1. The curved area at the back of a person’s neck, just below where the hairline en
The curved area at the back of a person’s neck, just below where the hairline ends and above the shoulders.
Brooke tied her hair up, exposing the pale skin at the nape of her neck.
the nape of [someone's] neck — most common pattern
The massage therapist worked the knots out of Tariq’s nape with slow, firm pressure.
[possessive] + nape — possessive pattern
Nadia felt a cold breeze on her nape through the gap in her collar.
A small red birthmark sat above Marco’s nape, hidden by his hair most days.
Jude rubbed sunscreen onto his nape before spending the afternoon at the beach.
- scruff
informal; often used for animals (scruff of the neck) rather than people
- back of the neck
descriptive phrase, not a single-word synonym; more basic and generic
- nuchal region
technical medical term; rarely used in everyday speech
文法句型
the nape of [someone's] neck
[possessive] + nape
用法筆記
The word 'nape' almost always appears with either a possessive ('her nape') or an 'of'-phrase ('the nape of his neck'). Using 'nape' without a possessor sounds unnatural in most contexts.