栽 (zāi) — to plant; to grow; to stumble; to fall down; to frame (someone); to impose blame
Definition
栽 covers three distinct senses: 'to plant' (trees/crops — similar to 种植 but as a single short verb), 'to fall/tumble' (stumble down, like 绊 a stumble-trip), and 'to frame someone' (most often in 栽赃).
verb
to plantto growto stumbleto fall downto frame (someone)to impose blame
Examples
- 栽。Chūn tiān shì zāi shù de hǎo jì jié.Spring is a good season to plant trees.
- ，栽。Tā zǒu lù méi zhù yì jiǎo xià, zāi le yí gè dà gēn tou.He wasn't paying attention to his steps and took a big fall.
- 。Yǒu rén xiǎng zāi zāng xiàn hài nà ge wú gū de rén.Someone wants to frame that innocent person.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢦏
𢦏𢦏栽zāi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.
栽 is made from 木 and 𢦏: 木 is the wood/tree part, and 𢦏 points to the sound.
Appears in
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