jiā
noun #45,506

Meanings

  1. 1 cangue (a wooden collar used to punish criminals)

Examples

HSK 5
Tā zhōngyú zhèngtuō le jīngshén shàng de jiāsuǒ, chóngxīn kāishǐ.
He finally cast off his mental shackles and started over.
HSK 7-9
Gǔdài fànrén bózi shàng suǒ zhe chénzhòng de mù jiā.
In ancient times prisoners had a heavy wooden cangue locked around their necks.

Tips

usage
is the old wooden neck-collar used to punish criminals. The common compound 枷锁 (yoke and chains) is mostly used figuratively for any heavy constraint.

Components

radical
tree; wood
Left tree/wood radical . The cangue is a wooden device, so the radical names the material of .
phonetic
jiā
to add
Right side supplies the sound jiā exactly, with no drift. The latent sense of 'adding weight onto' fits a heavy collar placed on a prisoner.

Stroke Order

jiā