Usage patterns 首くび を 振ふ る to shake one's head
He shook his head in response to the question.
首くび を 切き る to cut off someone's head; to behead
In the past, criminals were sometimes beheaded.
首くび を 絞し める to strangle someone by the neck
The culprit strangled the victim's neck.
首くび をかしげる to tilt one's head in puzzlement
She tilted her head, puzzled by the story.
首くび から 下さ げる to hang something around one's neck
He wears his employee ID hanging around his neck.
首くび を 吊つ る to hang oneself
He hanged himself in despair.
Expressions· 36 首くび になる be fired; be sacked; be dismissed · be beheaded 首くび をひねる to cock one's head in puzzlement; to tilt one's head in thought; to think hard 首くび が 回まわ らない drowning in debt; up to one's neck in debt · can't turn one's head 首くび を 突つ っ 込こ む poke one's nose into; meddle in; take an interest in · poke one's head into; look into Show 3 more Show fewer 首くび を 長なが くする eagerly look forward to; wait with anticipation 首くび が 飛と ぶ be fired; be sacked; be dismissed See all 36 in Explore →
Kanji 首 neck, counter for songs and poems Related words 解雇 is the formal, legal/business term for being dismissed from a job, while 首 (in its クビ sense) is the everyday, colloquial way to say the same thing.
首 is the native Japanese word for the body part and is used far more broadly, while ネック as "neck" is a loanword mainly limited to objects like bottles or instruments.
Don't confuse with· 5 首 can mean 'head' only in set contexts like decapitation (首を切る ), while 頭 is the general word for the head itself, including the face and brain.
首 refers to the whole neck, whereas 喉 specifically means the throat or windpipe inside it.
くびれ (a narrow constriction, like a waist) is easily confused by sound with 首 (neck), a body part, though the two words are unrelated in meaning.
Show 2 more Show fewer クビ is the bare noun (as in クビだ 'you're fired'), while 首になる is the full verb phrase meaning 'to get fired'.
首 refers to the neck itself as a body part, whereas 襟 refers to the collar of a garment that wraps around the neck.
Word family· 63 Show 22 more Show fewer hanging oneself; suicide by hanging
freshly severed head
necklace; choker
decapitation; beheading · firing; dismissal; layoff; downsizing · small decapitation sword
head over heels in love; madly in love; crazy about
scruff of the neck
decapitation; beheading
hanging; death by hanging
bowl and shank of a Japanese pipe · neck; head
head
nape of the neck
head of a sleeping person
round neck; crew neck
bull neck; thick neck
low-class prostitute; woman with white-powdered neck
ear of rice; head of a rice plant; spike
head (derogatory)
wrist
falsified severed head
sickle-shaped neck; crooked neck; gooseneck
base of the throat; bottom of the neck
burial mound for severed heads
See all 63 in Explore →
Written forms 首くび Usage 92%
Standard kanji for neck and related anatomical senses; also used in dismissal compounds.
クビ Usage 5%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling is common for the dismissal sense, matching usual-kana usage.
頸くび Usage 2%
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji variant for neck; mostly seen in medical or formal contexts.
くび Usage 1%
馘くび Usage <1%
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji specifically for dismissal; almost never used in modern writing.
頚くび
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji variant for neck; mostly seen in medical or formal contexts.
Etymology The word くび is native Japanese. The kanji 首 originally depicted a head with hair, later extended to mean neck. The dismissal sense likely comes from the image of 'cutting off one's head' (首を切る ), i.e., severing employment.
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