锯 (jù): a saw, to saw

锯 (jù) is a Chinese character meaning “a saw.” 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).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. a saw
  2. to saw

Etymology & Origin

锯

pictophoneticmetal

Decomposition: ⿰钅居 (layout: left-right)

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noundiàn jùelectric saw (esp. electric chain saw)
锯齿nounjù chǐsawtooth
锯子nounjù zia saw
钢锯noungāng jùhacksaw
拉锯verblā jùa two-man saw
手锯nounshǒu jùhandsaw
锯条nounjù tiáoa sawblade
锯末nounjù mòsawdust
拉锯战nounlā 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
0.7142,324 co-occurrences
惊jīng
0.598782 co-occurrences
魂hún
0.541784 co-occurrences
竖shù
0.524168 co-occurrences
钝dùn
0.52190 co-occurrences
蚁yǐ
0.518160 co-occurrences
缘yuán
0.487340 co-occurrences
鲨shā
0.48592 co-occurrences
状zhuàng
0.457572 co-occurrences
鲤lǐ
0.45438 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.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

比赛开局,肖国栋迅速进入状态,第五局比赛进程出现反复,双方陷入长时间防守拉锯。

bǐ sài kāi jú , xiào guó dòng xùn sù jìn rù zhuàng tài , dì wǔ jú bǐ sài jìn chéng chū xiàn fǎn fù , shuāng fāng xiàn rù cháng shí jiān fáng shǒu lā jù .

At the start of the match, Xiao Guodong quickly found his rhythm. The fifth frame saw a back-and-forth battle, with both players locked in a prolonged defensive stalemate.

IT之家Aug 2026

对于发行商和黑客而言,这又演变成了一场“打地鼠”式的删帖拉锯战。

duì yú fā háng shāng hé hēi kè ér yán , zhè yòu yǎn biàn chéng le yī chǎng dǎ dì shǔ shì de shān tiē lā jù zhàn .

For publishers and hackers, this has once again turned into a "whack-a-mole"-style tug-of-war over post removal.

少数派Aug 2026

开阳高中的黄金搭档双双身亡,甚至武志的“黄金右臂”也被全部锯下,失去了踪迹。

kāi yáng gāo zhōng de huáng jīn dā dàng shuāng shuāng shēn wáng , shèn zhì wǔ zhì de huáng jīn yòu bì yě bèi quán bù jù xià , shī qù le zōng jì .

The dynamic duo from Kaiyang High School both died, and even Wu Zhi’s “golden right arm” was completely sawed off and has since vanished without a trace.

Bideshbangla24.comApr 2026

...新)—安徽商网信息产业有限公司 - 冰雪锯_冰面救援_北京adscluster.c...

. . . xīn ) — ān huī shāng wǎng xìn xī chǎn yè yǒu xiàn gōng sī bīng xuě jù bīng miàn jiù yuán běi jīng a d s c l u s t e r . c . . .

...New)—Anhui Business Network Information Industry Co., Ltd. - Ice Saw_Ice Rescue_Beijing adscluster.c...

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

...Around the key psychological level of 32 yuan, bulls and bears are locked in a tug-of-war

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

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 钅 (metal) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 锯 (jù) mean in Chinese?
锯 (jù) primarily means "a saw." 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: 据 (according to), 剧 (theatrical work (play, opera, TV series etc)), 具 (tool), 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

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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.