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凿

鑿
záo
verb HSK 7-9 #16,307

Meanings

  1. 1 to chisel
  2. 2 to bore
  3. 3 to dig

Examples

HSK 5
他在冰上凿了一个洞。
Tā zài bīng shàng záo le yígè dòng.
He chiseled a hole in the ice.
HSK 7-9
工人们在山上凿了一条隧道。
Gōngrén men zài shān shàng záo le yì tiáo suìdào.
The workers chiseled a tunnel through the mountain.

Tips

history
The idiom 凿壁偷光 - 'to chisel a hole in the wall to steal light' - describes a poor boy who studied by the light from his neighbor's house. It symbolizes diligent study despite hardship.

Components

radical
凵 kǎn
open mouth; receptacle
凵 (open container) wraps the bottom as the indexing radical - the receptacle that catches the chips. The image is of a chisel-stroke biting downward into a hollow, with debris collecting below. 凵 itself is a Kangxi radical for things that hold or enclose, used in 凶, 击, 函.
semantic
丵 zhuó
thick clump of grass; bushy
丵 sits inside the bottom-open frame and is the working business of the character: a thick bristly cluster suggesting impact-marks left by a chisel hammering into wood or stone. Traditional 鑿 paired this top with 金 (metal) and 殳 (strike); the simplified form keeps just the action.

Stroke Order

凿 záo