chuān​záo

bore

穿 chuān wear

Original meaning: bore a hole

Alludes to creating a hole () with one's teeth (). Based on the original meaning "bore a hole". The meaning later expanded to "pass through" and "wear".

Components

Meaning component
xué, jué cave
Meaning component
tooth

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyhwentʰo[n] bore through

說文解字

《說文》:“穿,通也。从牙在穴中。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

záo chisel Simplified

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

Components

qiǎn, kǎn enclosure

Simplified from the component in traditional .

Iconic component
zhuó chisel
Deleted component
shū weapon or tool
Deleted component
jīn metal

Sources

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

záo chisel Traditional

Depicts using a chisel (), which is a metal () tool (), to fashion a mortar ().

Components

Iconic component
zhuó chisel
Iconic component
jiù mortar
Meaning component
shū weapon or tool
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