凿 (záo): (bound form) chisel, to bore a hole, to chisel, to dig, (literary) certain, authentic, irrefutable
凿 (záo) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) chisel.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 凵 (structural) and 丵 (structural). It ranks #2561 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 凿 a drill 丵 making a hole 凵. Its radical form 凵 (open mouth) appears in many related characters such as 出 (chū, to go out), 击 (jī, to hit), 凶 (xiōng, terrible).
Definitions
- (bound form) chisel
- to bore a hole
- to chisel
- to dig
- (literary) certain
- authentic
- irrefutable
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA drill 丵 making a hole 凵
Decomposition: ⿶凵丵 (layout: surround-from-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 凿 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 确凿adjective | què záo | definite |
| 凿子noun | záo zi | chisel |
| 开凿verb | kāi záo | to cut (a canal, tunnel, well etc) |
| 确凿不移 | què záo bù yí | established and irrefutable (idiom) |
| 穿凿附会phrase | chuān záo fù huì | (idiom) to make far-fetched claims |
| 凿石场 | záo shí chǎng | rock quarry |
| 凿死铆子 | záo sǐ mǎo zi | (dialect) stubborn |
| 妄生穿凿 | wàng shēng chuān záo | a forced analogy (idiom) |
| 凿壁偷光 | záo bì tōu guāng | lit. to pierce the wall to steal a light (idiom) |
| 凿死卯子 | záo sǐ mǎo zi | variant of 鑿死鉚子|凿死铆子 |
| 言之凿凿phrase | yán zhī záo záo | (idiom) to speak with conviction |
| 凿空verb | záo kōng | to open an aperture |
| 凿岩机 | záo yán jī | rock drill |
| 方枘圆凿phrase | fāng ruì yuán záo | (lit.) like a square peg in a round hole (idiom) |
| 圆凿方枘 | yuán záo fāng ruì | see 方枘圓鑿|方枘圆凿 |
凿 appears in 22 compound words: 50 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 18 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 凿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
lit. to pierce the wall to steal a light (idiom); fig. to study diligently in the face of hardship
lit. to pierce the wall to steal a light (idiom); fig. to study diligently in the face of hardship
Example Sentences
凿字虽然难写，但意思很有趣。
záo zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .
The character "凿" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.
我国石窟寺开凿约始于3世纪，兴盛于5至8世纪。
wǒ guó shí kū sì kāi záo yuē shǐ yú 3 shì jì , xīng shèng yú 5 zhì 8 shì jì .
The carving of cave temples in China began around the 3rd century and flourished from the 5th to the 8th centuries.
天文学家此前也曾观测到这一难以捕捉的现象的蛛丝马迹，但始终没有确凿证据。
tiān wén xué jiā cǐ qián yě céng guàn cè dào zhè yī nán yǐ bǔ zhuō de xiàn xiàng de zhū sī mǎ jì , dàn shǐ zhōng méi yǒu què záo zhèng jù .
Astronomers had previously observed faint signs of this elusive phenomenon, but had never found conclusive evidence.
此前一直缺乏确凿证据来支持这一假说。
cǐ qián yī zhí quē fá què záo zhèng jù lái zhī chí zhè yī jiǎ shuō .
Until now, there has been a lack of conclusive evidence to support this hypothesis.
然而，目前还没有确凿的证据表明这颗红色星球曾有过板块运动。
rán ér , mù qián hái méi yǒu què záo de zhèng jù biǎo míng zhè kē hóng sè xīng qiú céng yǒu guò bǎn kuài yùn dòng .
However, there is currently no conclusive evidence that plate tectonics ever occurred on the Red Planet.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 凿 (záo) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 凿 have?
What is the radical of 凿?
What are the components of 凿?
What are common words containing 凿?
What characters sound the same as 凿 (záo)?
Is 凿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 凿 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.