钅

marks a character as involving metal — metals themselves · Kangxi radical 167 · variant of 金

marks a character as involving metal — metals themselves, metal tools, and things made or measured in metal

This is the squeezed left-hand form of 金, whose old graph showed lumps of ore or cast metal beside a shape usually read as a mold or a bell being cast. In the full character you can still see the two small dots as the nuggets of metal sitting in the earth under a roof-like cover. Written on the left, the character loses those dots and flattens into 钅: the top stroke is the old peak, the boxy middle keeps the horizontal bars, and the long final upstroke replaces the two legs. Almost every element name in modern chemistry is built on it, which is why so many of these characters are recent inventions.

钅 at a glance

Meaning

marks a character as involving metal — metals themselves

Strokes

5

Characters

223

Role

Contributes meaning

Kangxi radical

167

Variant of

金

Characters with 钅 (119 of 223)

Frequently asked questions