凿空
záo​kōng

open aperture

凿 záo chisel Simplified

Simplified from 鑿. Depicts a chisel (丵) fashioning an object with an opening (凵).

Components

凵
凵 IconicSimplified component
qiǎn, kǎn enclosure

Simplified from the 臼 component in traditional 鑿.

丵
丵 Iconic component
zhuó chisel
鑿
殳 Deleted component
shū weapon or tool
鑿
金 Deleted component
jīn metal

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

空 kōng, kòng empty

Phonosemantic compound. 穴 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound.

Components

穴
穴 Meaning component
xué, jué cave
工
工 Sound component
gōng work

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 6 verified)

控腔崆倥箜焢

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhuwngkʰˤoŋ hollow, empty; hole
khuwngXkʰˤoŋʔ hollow, empty; hole

說文解字

《說文》：“空，竅也。从穴，工聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鑿 záo chisel Traditional

Depicts using a chisel (丵), which is a metal (金) tool (殳), to fashion a mortar (臼).

Components

丵
丵 Iconic component
zhuó chisel
臼
臼 Iconic component
jiù mortar
殳
殳 Meaning component
shū weapon or tool
金
金 Meaning component
jīn metal

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzak[dz]ˤawk chisel
dzowk[dz]ˤawk chisel

說文解字

《說文》：“鑿，穿木也。从金。省聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)