作zuò

作

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简体

Simplified Chinese

Simplified form (簡體). 作 (zuò, "to do, to make") remains unchanged from traditional, combining the person radical 亻 with 乍, which originally depicted a workbench or the action of crafting. Together they picture a person at work — a meaning so essential that it has endured for over two millennia with little alteration.

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Shuowen

作. The character pairs the human radical 亻 with 乍, which originally depicted a tool or workbench. In oracle bone inscriptions the glyph shows a person holding a tool at a bench, symbolizing the act of making or working. The combination later settled as 亻 + 乍 to convey “to do, to make, to act”.

Pinyin

zuò· HSK 1· Radical 人

作zuò

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin