畜 (xù): to raise (animals)

Meanings

1 to raise (animals)
2 to keep (livestock)

Characters

畜

xù

to raise (animals)

Examples

畜牧业是这个地区的主要产业。

Xùmùyè shì zhège dìqū de zhǔyào chǎnyè.

Animal husbandry is the region's main industry.

他家世代畜养牛羊。

Tā jiā shìdài xùyǎng niúyáng.

His family has raised cattle and sheep for generations.

Tips

usage

The xù reading is the verb 'to raise or keep animals': 畜牧 (animal husbandry), 畜养 (to raise livestock), 畜产品 (animal products). When the character names the animals themselves it switches to the noun reading chù.

Components

radical

田 tián

field; farmland

Field radical on the bottom, the indexing semantic. The cross-and-square depicts a paddy divided by raised paths. Putting tethered animals 玄 above farmland 田 gives the original scene: animals kept on the farm. Modern readings split into chù 'livestock' (noun) and xù 'to raise' (verb).

semantic

玄 xuán

dark; mysterious; tied silk

Top component, originally a small bundle of twisted silk thread, here representing tethered animals tied up at the farm. The rope-and-tether image sits naturally over 田, picturing livestock kept on cultivated land. The same 玄 shows up in 弦 (bowstring) and 蓄 (store up), which carries the same domesticate-and-keep idea.