磕 (kē): to bump

Meanings

1 to bump
2 to knock
3 to crack (a seed) with one's teeth

Characters

磕

kē

to bump; to knock

Examples

小心，别磕着头。

Xiǎoxīn, bié kē zhe tóu.

Be careful, don't bump your head.

她喜欢磕瓜子。

Tā xǐhuan kē guāzǐ.

She likes cracking sunflower seeds.

他不小心磕到了桌子。

Tā bù xiǎoxīn kē dào le zhuōzi.

He accidentally bumped into the table.

Tips

usage

磕 is commonly used in 磕瓜子 (cracking sunflower seeds with teeth) and 磕头 (kowtow — knocking one's head on the ground).

memory

The stone radical 石 on the left suggests something hard — bumping or knocking against a hard surface.

Components

radical

石 shí

stone (radical)

Left stone radical — the indexing radical, depicting a rock under a cliff overhang. Marks 磕 as an action involving something hard: the original image is stone-on-stone or head-on-stone. Same radical fronts 砍 chop, 破 break, 碰 bump, 砸 smash — the impact-verb family.

phonetic

盍 hé

covered vessel (phonetic)

Right side 盍 supplies the sound — hé drifted to kē through regular guttural alternation, the same pattern producing 嗑 to crack open and 瞌 to nod off. 盍 itself depicts a covered ceremonial dish; the lid imagery is incidental — the role is purely sound.