scratch one's head

verb

To puzzle, ponder, or wonder about something.

“Faced with a box full of hundreds of small parts and forty pages worth of assembly instructions, he could do little more than stand there and scratch his head.”

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Meanings

verbscratch one's head (third-person singular simple present scratches one's head, present participle scratching one's head, simple past and past participle scratched one's head)

present singular third person scratches one's head · participle present scratching one's head · participle past scratched one's head · past scratched one's head

  1. idiomaticTo puzzle, ponder, or wonder about something.

    Faced with a box full of hundreds of small parts and forty pages worth of assembly instructions, he could do little more than stand there and scratch his head.

    1 more example

    But Sunderland will be left scratching their heads at the result after creating enough chances to have won two games in a refreshingly open and frantic first period.

    2010 December 28, Owen Phillips, “Sunderland 0 - 2 Blackpool”, in BBC

Origin

scratch + one's + head

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

scratch one's head. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scratch%20one's%20head

MLA

“scratch one's head.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scratch%20one's%20head. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scratch one's head,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scratch%20one's%20head.

Source: scratch one's head on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.