漆 (qī): paint

Meanings

1 paint
2 lacquer
3 varnish

Characters

漆

qī

paint; lacquer

Examples

墙上的漆已经掉了。

Qiáng shàng de qī yǐjīng diào le.

The paint on the wall has peeled off.

他给家具刷了一层漆。

Tā gěi jiājù shuā le yì céng qī.

He applied a coat of paint to the furniture.

Tips

usage

漆 can be a noun (paint/lacquer) or a verb (to paint/lacquer). As a verb: 漆成红色 (paint it red). Also appears in 漆黑 (pitch-black).

culture

Chinese lacquerware (漆器) dates back over 7,000 years and is one of China's most important traditional crafts.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (left-side radical)

Three-drop water radical on the left — the side-form of 水. Indexes 漆 in the liquids family alongside 油 oil, 汁 juice, 汤 soup. The radical is literal: lacquer is a sticky tree-sap fluid, and 氵 marks it as a watery substance applied wet. Anything brushed on as a coating tends to live under this radical.

phonetic

桼 qī

lacquer tree; sap

Right side 桼 supplies the sound (qī, exact match) and the original meaning. 桼 itself depicts a tree 木 with sap drops dripping from incisions in the bark — the original picture of harvesting raw lacquer. Adding 氵 simply emphasised that the substance was a liquid; 漆 has now displaced 桼 in everyday use.