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裁

cái
verb HSK 7-9 #10,548

Meanings

  1. 1 to cut (cloth/paper)
  2. 2 to judge; to rule
  3. 3 to reduce; to cut down

Examples

裁判做出了判决。
Cáipàn zuòchū le pànjué.
The referee made a ruling.
公司裁员了。
Gōngsī cáiyuán le.
The company laid off employees.

Tips

usage
裁判 (referee/judge), 裁员 (layoffs), 裁缝 (tailor), 裁剪 (to cut/trim).

Components

radical
衣 yī
clothing; garment
Inside 衣 — pictograph of a robe with collar and sleeves. The indexing radical, anchoring 裁 in the textile family with 袋 bag, 装 dress, 表 surface. The core image is "cut cloth into a garment" — from there came the abstract senses of judging and reducing (裁判, 裁员).
semantic
十 shí
ten (here graphic)
Top-left 十 — the two strokes above the spear in 戈. Historically this isn't the number ten but a graphic residue of the upper part of the 㦰/zāi phonetic series. In the pedagogical split it sits cleanly above the spear-blade, anchoring the upper-right corner of the 戈 frame.
phonetic
戈 gē
dagger-axe; spear
The 戈 spear-frame wraps around 衣 in the upper-right corner — three strokes form the hooked outer shape and one passes through earlier. Together with 十 above this is the contracted phonetic 㦰 (zāi), supplying the sound that drifted to cái. Same phonetic family: 哉, 栽, 载.

Stroke Order

裁 cái