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I'm writing something—a story to be exact—and I am looking for a word which means "the top of a person's head." I remember seeing a word in which its meaning is exactly this one from a book that I'd read—Crispin: The Cross of Lead. I think it was something like "tope", but I looked at its meaning and it did not match.

Can anyone help me? I don't have the book with me because I just borrowed it at my previous school.

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    There really isn't a word in common use - I think most people would just say "the top of the head". And I think the word you remember might be "toupée" (from French, hence the accent), which is a small wig intended to cover the bare part of the scalp in male pattern baldness.
    – jamesqf
    Commented May 20, 2018 at 4:43
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    @EricDuminil Just looked at its meaning, and it is "the skin on top of one's head where hair grows." It is near, but not close enough to be defined as the top of a person's head.
    – CSMAlternate
    Commented May 20, 2018 at 11:50
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    If you're thinking of "tope"; the brimless cylindrical chef hat is a "toque", and the haircut of a medieval friar (as well as the resulting bald spot on top) is a "tonsure".
    – user662852
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 14:21
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    I suspect that user662852's answer below correctly identifies the term used in the book you mention. From page 310 of The Cross of Lead: "Tonsure: the part of the cleric's head, usually the crown, left bare by shaving". The book does include one instance of the word pate, as well.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 22:36

8 Answers 8

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The 'crown' is the top of the head.

The crown is the top of the head, or the whole head.

Wikipedia

The top part of the skull; the top of the head.

OED

the top part of a head

Cambridge

From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches,

Shakespeare - The Tempest IV, 1 - 1,972

=================================================================

Citation from 1535 :

So wente Sathan forth from the LORDE, and smote Iob with maruelous sore byles, from the sole off the fote vnto his crowne:

The Coverdale Bible

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    ...Jack fell down and broke his crown...and Jill came tumbling after :-)
    – Nav
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 17:52
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    I guess Jack will be making a trip to the dentist?
    – BallpointBen
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 20:54
  • From Criteria for accepting passport photos in Dutch travel documents: Height: from age 11: from chin to crown, between 26 and 30 mm. up to age 11: from chin to crown, between 19 and 30 mm
    – phuclv
    Commented Sep 7, 2018 at 16:44
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    By the way...that "v" is actually a u. It's how it's been written since Latin until some versions ago of English... my brain gets frazzled trying to remember which one specifically.
    – Lordology
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 20:32
  • (From the disappeared ventilator) But then a viewer does not necessarily view. A runner does not necessarily run. Bleachers tend to seat people. And benders leave people flat out. English does not pattern consistently/logically. A hamburger contains beef. Misnomers are a fact of life.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 13, 2020 at 19:02
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dictionary definition of PATE, reading "**pāte,** *n.* [ME.; prob. orig. euphemistic.] **1.** the head. **2**. the top of the head. **3.** intelligence. **4.** the skin of a calf's head. A humorous or derogatory term." The entire definition is circled in blue ink, with a red ink arrow pointing to the header "pāte" and another pointing to sub-definition 2. "the top of the head." Image from Webster's dictionary text which states the following:

pate, n. [ME.; prob. orig. euphemistic.]

  1. the top of the head.

Vocabulary.com:

Your pate is the top of your head...

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    +1 "Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits / Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits." (Shakespeare)
    – CowperKettle
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 17:55
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    ..And this seems to be the word the OP saw in the book he read according to Paul's answer.
    – Cave Johnson
    Commented May 22, 2018 at 1:16
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    I don't understand why/how this would be euphemistic.
    – MissMonicaE
    Commented May 22, 2018 at 15:34
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    @MissMonicaE you would need to look at its etymology to understand. In Latin, the word patina meant "shallow pan" or "dish".
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented May 22, 2018 at 19:07
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    "Pate" survives, I think, only in "bald pate" which is the area of your head targeted by hair regrowth scammers.
    – Michael Kay
    Commented May 25, 2018 at 7:38
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The sentence in the book you referenced "Crispin: The Cross of Lead", is this:

With a sweep of his hand, he snatched off his hat, revealing a bald pate.

From the Cambridge English Dictionary,

pate

= the top of a person's head

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There is also scalp. Usually refers specifically to the skin, but not exclusively.

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In medical jargon, vertex is the top of the skull/ head.

Crown is used for reference to fetuses in the womb. For example:

crown-rump length or length of the unborn fetus measured during an ultrasound.

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    But "reference to fetus's what?"... I need to know. I'm on tenterhooks to find out!
    – Nigel Touch
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 15:28
  • @NigelTouch - corrected
    – AndyT
    Commented May 22, 2018 at 10:46
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    @NigelTouch: this is why I'll never spend to much time here, its full of pedants who's only goal seems to be looking clever. Kudos for you're comment however, it's construction is flawless :-)
    – user45532
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 1:58
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A tonsure is both the name of certain holy orders' haircut style, as well as the exposed top of the head resulting from that haircut.

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Perhaps it was fontanelle? That is where the 'soft spot' in a babies skull is located.

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If you are looking to be somewhat novel with language — cf. etymology of ‘suspicious’ anywhere but Wiktionary, where it is seriously deficient, — then you could consider

cap

In most dialects which I've encountered, a ‘cap’ is any style of shallow hat. Most etymological histories surmise a derivation from various words which are paronymic with the Latin ‘caput’ i.e. ‘head’.

Viz. e.g.

the cap of your head.

If your story occurs in the future, it may be a good way to suggest mutation of language while not being all too indecipherable.

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