臼

contributes the sense of a hollowed-out mortar and · Kangxi radical 134

contributes the sense of a hollowed-out mortar and, by extension, pounding, scooping and hollow pits

The old graph is a simple side view of a mortar: an open U-shaped bowl with short strokes inside standing for the grain or the roughened inner surface. The modern 臼 keeps that picture exactly — the outer lines form the walls of the vessel, and the two small strokes inside are what sits in it. You can see the mortar at work in 舂 (a pestle held above it), 舀 (a hand reaching down into it), and in the hollow-pit sense of 臽. In some characters the shape is not really a mortar at all: in 舁 and 與 it comes from a pair of hands, and in 鼠 it began as the rodent's teeth, so the same box has absorbed a few unrelated pictures.

臼 at a glance

Meaning

contributes the sense of a hollowed-out mortar and

Strokes

6

Characters

21

Role

Usually contributes meaning

Kangxi radical

134

Characters with 臼 (13 of 21)

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