Rarely used alone; appears in compounds: 卓越 (outstanding), 卓著 (distinguished), 卓见 (penetrating insight). Also a common surname (Zhuó).
Components
semantic
⺊bǔ
divination crack (variant of 卜)
Top is ⺊, the side-form of 卜 — a divination crack on a heated tortoise shell. Sitting above 早, it pictures an oracle reading at dawn, sense of 'highest, brightest moment' (卓越, 卓著). Indexed under Kangxi #24 十 by tradition, drawn from the long vertical of 早 below.
Below — 日 sun above 十 (originally a sprouting plant), depicting the sun just risen over new growth: 'early morning'. In 卓 it carries the dawn imagery, and the long vertical stroke that pierces upward gives the visual sense of something tall, towering above the rest. Hence 卓 'eminent, lofty'.
Filed under radical 十 (shí, #24) by convention. 十 is not a separate component in 卓, so no strokes are highlighted.
