to scratch one's head
4
4.6
- idiom
:
rascarse la cabeza
- After reading the instructions, she started to scratch her head because they didn't make any sense.
- scratch your head wondering
- scratch your head and say
- makes you scratch your head
Examples
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If you are a fan of college football, or simply a fan of betting on college football, you probably were left scratching your head late on Saturday night.
Blog text (21) -
If you missed the results and you are scratching your head wondering what on earth I am talking about, full details here.
Blog text (1) -
I scratch my head and wonder that myself.
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So it's silly to scratch one's head and say, "Man, what did they want?"
Blog text (20) -
Then scratch your head and hope for a sensible idea.
Blog text (14) -
Many of you are probably scratching your heads at this one, but it's true.
Blog text (31) -
Political analysts from the Bay Area to the Beltway... are scratching their heads in wonder... over this unprecedented turn of events.
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If you're scratching your head about what authors this might include, I have a few recommendations.
Blog text (19) -
You're left scratching your head, while the deserving sink and the undeserving prosper.
Blog text (27) -
When I saw the complicated math problem, I couldn't help but scratch my head in confusion.
Synonyms
65
2.1
Raise and lower your shoulders slightly to show you do not know or care
Antonyms
How Confused
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase names a literal action composed of 'scratch' + 'head' and that bodily action is widely used cross-linguistically to signal puzzlement or uncertainty, so the pragmatic meaning is a natural inference. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words will therefore very likely understand it as 'show confusion' rather than needing prior exposure.
Etymology
Scratch one's head comes from the simple image of someone rubbing or scratching their head when they cannot find an answer. So, the gesture of touching the head became a way to show 'confused' or 'not sure'.