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琢

zhuó / zuó
verb #52,229

Meanings

  1. 1 to carve or polish (jade, stone)
  2. 2 to refine; to perfect

Examples

玉不琢，不成器。
Yù bù zhuó, bù chéngqì.
Jade that is not carved cannot become a vessel.
这块玉雕琢得十分精美。
Zhè kuài yù diāozhuó de shífēn jīngměi.
This piece of jade is exquisitely carved.

Tips

mistakes
Two readings. zhuó means to carve jade, as in 雕琢 (diāozhuó, to sculpt) and 琢磨 (zhuómó, to polish, refine). But the everyday word 琢磨 meaning to ponder or mull something over is read zuómo.

Components

radical
王 wáng
jade
On the left this is the jade radical (the jade form of 王), not king. It marks the character as something to do with working precious stone.
phonetic
豖 chù
phonetic element
The right side is a 豕-like pig-shaped element used purely for sound; its reading has drifted far from the modern zhuó.

Stroke Order

琢 zhuó