匠 (jiàng): craftsman

Measure Word

一个匠人 gè

Meanings

1 craftsman
2 artisan
3 -smith (suffix)

Characters

匠

jiàng

craftsman; artisan

Examples

木匠做了一张漂亮的桌子。

Mùjiàng zuò le yìzhāng piàoliang de zhuōzi.

The carpenter made a beautiful table.

这位老匠人的手艺非常精湛。

Zhèwèi lǎo jiàng rén de shǒuyì fēicháng jīngzhàn.

This old craftsman's workmanship is superb.

Tips

usage

匠 is often used as a suffix to describe a specific type of craftsman: 木匠 (carpenter), 铁匠 (blacksmith), 石匠 (stonemason).

Components

radical

匚 fāng

open box; container

Outer enclosure radical — the open-on-the-right box, written as the first stroke (top + left side) and closed on the bottom stroke. Pictures a tool chest or workshop frame. Indexes 匠 in the container-and-craft family with 匣 case, 匡 to correct, 匪 bandit (originally 'box, hidden').

semantic

斤 jīn

axe; catty (weight)

Inside 斤 — pictograph of an adze or axe with a curved blade. Combined with the workshop frame around it, 匠 reads as 'an axe inside a tool chest' — the working kit of a carpenter. From there came 'craftsman' broadly, then 'masterful skill' as in 匠心 'craftsman's mind, ingenuity.'