角 (jué): role (in a play, film, opera)

Meanings

1 role (in a play, film, opera)
2 to compete; to contend
3 ancient three-legged wine vessel
4 third note of the pentatonic scale

Examples

她在这部电影里演主角。

Diànyǐng zhǔjué.

She plays the lead role in this film.

几支队伍在角逐冠军。

Duìwǔ juézhú guànjūn.

Several teams are competing for the championship.

五声音阶的第三音叫角。

Wǔshēng yīnjiē de jué.

The pentatonic scale's third note is called jué.

Tips

history

The jué reading covers a tight semantic cluster: theatrical roles (角色, 主角), competing (角逐, 角斗), an ancient horn-shaped wine cup, and the third note of the classical 5-note scale (gōng-shāng-jué-zhǐ-yǔ). The thread is 'horns clashing' — animals locking horns gave the senses of contest and dramatic confrontation.

register

In Beijing opera circles 角儿 (with er-suffix) means a star performer. The plain 角 on its own is mostly bound — you'll meet it inside compounds, not as a standalone word.

Components

pictograph

角 jué

role; to compete

Same horn-pictograph as the jiǎo reading — Kangxi radical #148. The jué reading is a literary/theatrical branch: horns clashing extended to 'role' and 'contest'. Visual structure identical; only the reading changes with the meaning.

Radical

Horn Kangxi #148

The horn radical. A pictograph of an animal horn with ridged surface striations. From the original concrete sense it generalises to 'corner' and 'angle'. Indexes a small set of horn- and shape-related characters: 解 (untie/dissect), 觥 (drinking horn), 觞 (wine cup). Free word 角 is far more common than the radical role.