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核

hé
noun HSK 7-9 #4,604

Meanings

  1. 1 pit (of a fruit)
  2. 2 nucleus; core
  3. 3 nuclear
  4. 4 to examine; to verify

Examples

HSK 4
这是公司的核心问题。
Zhè shì gōngsī de héxīn wèntí.
This is the core issue of the company.
HSK 5
苹果的核很硬。
Píngguǒ de hé hěn yìng.
The pit of the apple is hard.
HSK 7-9
请审核这份文件。
Qǐng shěnhé zhè fèn wénjiàn.
Please review and verify this document.

Tips

usage
核 covers both physical 'pit/core' (果核 fruit pit, 核心 core) and abstract 'nuclear' (核能 nuclear energy, 核武器 nuclear weapons). The verb sense 'to examine' (审核, 核对) comes from the idea of getting to the heart/truth of something.

Components

radical
木 mù
tree; wood
Left wood radical - the indexing component. The original meaning of 核 was the hard kernel inside a fruit pit - a wood-related substance, hence the wood radical. From "fruit pit" came nucleus, core, central matter - and modern technical terms like 核能 (nuclear energy) and 核心 (core).
phonetic
亥 hài
12th Earthly Branch (here phonetic)
Right 亥 supplies the sound - hài drifted to hé with initial preservation but coda shift. 亥 is the 12th Earthly Branch in the calendar (year of the Pig). Same phonetic family in 该 (gāi, ought to), 孩 (hái, child), 骇 (hài, frighten) - all sharing the hai/he sound spread.

Stroke Order

核 hé