卒 (zú): soldier

Meanings

1 soldier
2 servant
3 to finish
4 to die
5 finally
6 at last
7 pawn (in Chinese chess)

Characters

卒

zú

soldier; pawn; to finish; to die; finally

Examples

象棋里，卒只能向前走，不能后退。

Xiàngqí lǐ, zú zhǐnéng xiàngqián zǒu, bùnéng hòutuì.

In Chinese chess, the pawn can only move forward and cannot retreat.

他卒于1985年，享年七十岁。

Tā zú yú 1985 nián, xiǎngnián qīshí suì.

He passed away in 1985 at the age of seventy.

Tips

usage

卒 has two readings: zú (soldier/pawn/to die/finally) and cù (variant of 猝 — suddenly). The chess term is always zú. The 'to die' meaning is formal/literary; 去世 is more common in modern speech.

Components

radical

十 shí

ten

Bottom 十 — the indexing radical. The two crossed strokes evoke the platoon of ten that ancient Chinese armies organised conscripts into. The full picture of 卒 is then 'capped men marching by tens' — disposable foot soldiers, also why 卒 came to mean 'end' or 'die' (the soldier's fate).

semantic

亠 tóu

lid; cover (top stroke set)

Top lid stroke and dot — historically the depiction of a collar or hat, here representing the standardized clothing of conscripted footsoldiers. Carries the uniform-cap image that gave 卒 its 'foot soldier' meaning.

semantic

从 cóng

to follow (two people)

Middle 从 — two figures one behind the other, picturing soldiers marching in file. In 卒 it reinforces the original sense of common infantry: rank-and-file men who follow orders together, unlike the officers (士) who lead them.