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
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 确凿 | què záo | definite |
| 凿子 | záo zi | chisel |
| 开凿 | 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 | chuān záo fù huì | (idiom) to make far-fetched claims |
| 凿石场 | záo shí chǎng | rock quarry |
| 凿死卯子 | záo sǐ mǎo zi | variant of 鑿死鉚子|凿死铆子[zao2 si3 mao3 zi5] |
| 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) |
| 言之凿凿 | yán zhī záo záo | (idiom) to speak with conviction |
| 凿空 | záo kōng | to open an aperture |
| 凿岩机 | záo yán jī | rock drill |
| 方枘圆凿 | 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[fang1 rui4 yuan2 zao2] |
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.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 凿 (záo) mean in Chinese?
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Is 凿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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