触

觸
chù
verb #3,749

Meanings

  1. 1 to touch; to contact
  2. 2 to stir up; to trigger

Examples

HSK 4
Zhè shǒu gē chùdòng le wǒ.
This song moved me.
HSK 7-9
Qǐngwù chùmō zhǎnpǐn.
Please do not touch the exhibits.

Tips

usage
接触 (to contact), 触摸 (to touch), 触动 (to move/touch emotionally).

Components

radical
角 jiǎo
horn; angle
Left horn radical (Kangxi #148) - the indexing radical, pictographically the curved horn of an animal. Anchors the meaning: 触 originally meant a horned animal making contact (a butt, a poke). From there it generalised to any kind of touch, contact, brushing against (接触 contact, 触摸 touch, 感触 feel emotionally moved). Rare as a radical.
phonetic
虫 chóng
insect; bug
Right phonetic 虫 (chóng) - supplies the sound, shifting to chù through tone change. The simplified 触 replaced traditional 觸's complex 蜀 phonetic (which contained 虫 inside it) with just the 虫 alone. Standalone 虫 is the bug pictograph with antennae and a curled body - same chóng/chù phonetic family as 烛 (zhú candle).

Stroke Order

触 chù