切磋琢磨
qiē​cuō​zhuó​mó

exchanging ideas

切 qiè, qiē cut

Phonosemantic compound. 刀 represents the meaning and 七 represents the sound.

Components

七
七 Sound component
qī seven
刀
刀 Meaning component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

彻窃砌沏

Meaning (1 of 2 verified)

彻砌

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttshet[tsʰ]ˤi[t] cut; urgent

說文解字

《說文》：“切，刌也。从刀，七聲。”

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)

磋 cuō polish

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 差 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
差
差 Sound component
chà, chā, chāi to differ

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsha[tsʰ]ˤajfile, polish (v.)
Zhengzhangsʰlaːl
Unicodetsɑ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

琢 zuó polish jade

Components

王
王 Meaning component
wáng king

jade

豖
豖 Sound component
chù a shackled pig

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrtoːɡ

說文解字

治玉也。从玉豖聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

磨 mó, mo, mò grind

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 麻 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
麻
麻 Sound component
má, ma hemp

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

蘑耱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartmamˤajrub, grind
maHmˤaj-sgrinding stone
Zhengzhangmaːl
maːls
Unicodemɑ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica