札 (zhá) · letter; note; written message

Meanings

1 letter; note; written message
2 thin piece of wood used as a writing tablet (ancient)
3 official document (historical)

Characters

札

zhá

letter; writing tablet

Examples

HSK 5

这本书收录了他的书信和札记。

Zhè běn shū shōulù le tā de shūxìn hé zhá jì.

This book collects his letters and notes.

HSK 7-9

他留下了一封手札，记录了当时的见闻。

Tā liúxià le yī fēng shǒu zhá, jìlù le dāngshí de jiànwén.

He left behind a handwritten note recording what he saw and heard at the time.

Tips

history

Before paper was invented, the Chinese wrote on thin strips of bamboo or wood - these were called 札. The character shows wood (木) with a cutting knife, referring to the strips being cut for writing.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Left-side tree radical - pictograph of a tree, the indexing component. 札 originally named a thin wooden tablet used for writing before paper became common; from those tablets came the senses 'letter, note, document' (信札 letter, 札记 jottings). The wood radical points directly to the writing surface itself.

phonetic

乚 yǐ

hidden / curved stroke

Right side is the single curved stroke 乚, a stylised hook used here as the phonetic. yǐ shifts to zhá through old reconstructed alternations; in the related 扎 and 轧 it plays the same minimal phonetic role. Read it as a sound-marker shape rather than a content character.