锯 (jù): a saw (CL:把[ba3]), to saw

锯 (jù) is a Chinese character meaning “a saw (cl:把[ba3]).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 居 (phonetic). It ranks #2784 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 锯 metal. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 钱 (qián, money), 错 (cuò, wrong, mistake), 钟 (zhōng, clock, bell).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 钅 metal13 strokesFrequency #2784钅 semantic居 phonetic

Definitions

  1. a saw (Classifier: 把[ba3])
  2. to saw

Etymology & Origin

锯

pictophoneticmetal

Decomposition: ⿰钅居 (layout: left-right)

Components:钅semantic居phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Practice writing 锯 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
电锯diàn jùelectric saw (esp. electric chain saw)
锯齿jù chǐsawtooth
锯子jù zia saw
钢锯gāng jùhacksaw
拉锯lā jùa two-man saw
手锯shǒu jùhandsaw
锯条jù tiáoa sawblade
锯末jù mòsawdust
拉锯战lā jù zhànto-and-fro tussle
钢丝锯gāng sī jùjigsaw (saw with steel wire blade)
往复锯wǎng fù jùreciprocating saw
消除锯齿xiāo chú jù chǐanti-alias (computer graphics)
锯开jù kāito saw
电圆锯diàn yuán jùcircular saw
曲线锯qū xiàn jujigsaw
35
Total compounds
37
As first character
43
As last character
20
As middle character

锯 appears in 35 compound words: 37 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 20 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 锯 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

齿chǐ
0.7246,972 co-occurrences
惊jīng
0.6072,346 co-occurrences
魂hún
0.5492,352 co-occurrences
竖shù
0.532504 co-occurrences
钝dùn
0.529270 co-occurrences
蚁yǐ
0.526480 co-occurrences
缘yuán
0.4941,020 co-occurrences
鲨shā
0.492276 co-occurrences
状zhuàng
0.4641,716 co-occurrences
鲤lǐ
0.461114 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

刀锯鼎镬dāo jù dǐng huòHSK 7+

knife, saw and cauldron; ancient instruments of torture; fig. torture

phrase
刀锯斧钺dāo jù fǔ yuèHSK 7+

knife, saw, ax and hatchet (idiom); facing torture and execution

phrase
桁杨刀锯háng yáng dāo jùHSK 7+

lit. stocks and knives; fig. any punishment equipment; torture instrument

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

锯属材料在现代工业中应用广泛。

jū shǔ cái liào zài xiàn dài gōng yè zhōng yīng yòng guǎng fàn .

Sawmill materials are widely used in modern industry.

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

...“32”元整数关卡附近 呈多空角力反覆拉锯

. . . 3 2 yuán zhěng shǔ guān kǎ fù jìn chéng duō kōng jiǎo lì fǎn fù lā jù

Tatoeba

我看见他正在锯一棵树。

Wǒ kànjiàn tā zhèngzài jū yī kē shù.

I saw him sawing a tree.

Tatoeba

她向农夫借了一把锯子。

Tā xiàng nóngfū jiè le yī bǎ jùzi.

She borrowed a saw from the farmer.

Tatoeba

我父亲用一把锯子切木头。

Wǒ fùqīn yòng yī bǎ jùzi qiē mùtou.

My father cut wood with a saw.

Character Family

钅 Radical Family — Characters sharing the metal radical

镑bàng铲chǎn钞chāo锤chuí锻duàn钝dùn锋fēng钙gài钢gāng锅guō

Related Characters

钱qián错cuò钟zhōng铁tiě银yín金jīn针zhēn销xiāo锻duàn镜jìng

Homophones — Characters pronounced jù

剧jù据jù居jū局jú举jǔ巨jù拒jù具jù距jù聚jù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 锯 (jù) mean in Chinese?
锯 (jù) primarily means "a saw (cl:把[ba3])." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2784 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 锯 have?
锯 is written with 13 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 锯?
The radical associated with 锯 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 锯?
锯 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 居 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅居 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 锯?
Common words with 锯 include: 电锯 (diàn jù, "electric saw (esp. electric chain saw)"); 锯齿 (jù chǐ, "sawtooth"); 锯子 (jù zi, "a saw"); 钢锯 (gāng jù, "hacksaw"); 拉锯 (lā jù, "a two-man saw"). There are over 35 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 锯 (jù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jù: 剧 (theatrical work (play, opera, TV series etc)), 据 (according to), 居 (to reside), 局 (narrow), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 锯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 锯 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 锯 with real-time feedback

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Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.