noun

Meanings

  1. 1 (literary) an oar; a short paddle

Characters

Examples

Jiǎ zhōu jí zhě, fēi néng shuǐ yě, ér jué jiāng hé.
One who borrows a boat and oars is no swimmer, yet can cross rivers.

Tips

history
is not used alone in modern Chinese. It meant an oar in classical texts and survives chiefly in the literary pair (boat and oars), as in Xunzi's famous line about crossing rivers.
register
Literary; modern Chinese says for an oar or paddle.

Components

radical
tree; wood
(wood) is the meaning radical, since oars were carved from wood.
phonetic
to whisper
supplies the sound; the reading has drifted from to . It is the same phonetic in and .

Stroke Order