锻 (duàn) · to forge, to temper

Meanings

1 to forge
2 to temper

Characters

锻

duàn

to forge; to temper

Examples

HSK 3

每天锻炼能让身体更健康。

Měitiān duànliàn néng ràng shēntǐ gèng jiànkāng.

Working out every day keeps the body healthy.

HSK 7-9

工厂用钢锻造这些零件。

Gōngchǎng yòng gāng duànzào zhèxiē língjiàn.

The factory forges these parts from steel.

Tips

history

锻炼 originally meant forging metal, now commonly means 'to exercise'.

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal (radical form of 金)

Left metal radical - five-stroke side-form of 金. As the indexing radical it carries the literal meaning: forging is hammering and tempering metal. Same radical places 锻 with 锤 hammer, 钢 steel, 铸 to cast, 锋 sharp edge, 铁 iron - the entire smithy belongs to this family.

phonetic

段 duàn

section; to break

Right 段 supplies the full sound - duàn read identically in the parent. Strong semantic boost too: 段 itself depicts a hand striking stone or metal with a tool, the very action of forging. The 'phonetic' here doubles as near-semantic - unusually well-matched.