Sinograph Addenda · Signs
nail
| Name | nail |
|---|---|
| Reads | dīng [zhēng] |
| Means | nail; an able-bodied man; fourth of the stems |
| Taught in | 04 · Counting the world |
Where it comes from
Two strokes: a nail seen head-on and driven flush. The stated reading goes back to the nail-head picture; the word also names an able-bodied man (a “stout nail” of a household) and the fourth of the ten day-stems the calendar counts by. Taught in the counting chapter as the right-hand piece of 可.
How to remember it
The simplest hardware in the writing system: a nail. Hold the head, drive the point.
In the wild
urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1c0001:016:36a · license: attribution.