凿 (záo): to chisel

Meanings

1 to chisel
2 to bore
3 to dig

Characters

凿

záo

to chisel; to bore

Examples

工人们在山上凿了一条隧道。

Gōngrén men zài shānshàng záo le yìtiáo suìdào.

The workers chiseled a tunnel through the mountain.

他在冰上凿了一个洞。

Tā zài bīngshàng záo le yígè dòng.

He chiseled a hole in the ice.

Tips

history

The idiom 凿壁偷光 (záobì tōuguāng) — 'to chisel a hole in the wall to steal light' — describes a poor boy who studied by the light from his neighbor's house. It symbolizes diligent study despite hardship.

Components

radical

凵 kǎn

open mouth; receptacle

凵 (open container) wraps the bottom as the indexing radical — the receptacle that catches the chips. The image is of a chisel-stroke biting downward into a hollow, with debris collecting below. 凵 itself is a Kangxi radical for things that hold or enclose, used in 凶, 击, 函.

semantic

丵 zhuó

thick clump of grass; bushy

丵 sits inside the bottom-open frame and is the working business of the character: a thick bristly cluster suggesting impact-marks left by a chisel hammering into wood or stone. Traditional 鑿 paired this top with 金 (metal) and 殳 (strike); the simplified form keeps just the action.