jué

to dig

Hand (扌) + sound cue (屈) = to dig

The hand radical grounds the meaning in physical labor. 屈 primarily gives the sound jué; digging does often involve bending and crouching low, though that link is secondary.

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To bendPhonetic
HandSemantic

工人们在院子里了一口井。

gōng rén men zài yuàn zi lǐ jué le yī kǒu jǐng。

The workers dug a well in the courtyard.

他们花了好几天才开这片坚硬的土地。

tā men huā le hǎo jǐ tiān cái jué kāi zhè piàn jiān yìng de tǔ dì。

It took them quite a few days to dig through this stretch of hard ground.

Words with 掘

开掘

kāi jué

to dig; to excavate

吃水不忘掘井人

chī shuǐ bù wàng jué jǐng rén

Drinking the water of a well, one should never forget who dug it. (idiom)

临渴掘井

lín kě jué jǐng

lit. not to dig a well until one is thirsty

自掘坟墓

zì jué fén mù

to dig one's own grave

挖掘

wā jué

to excavate; (lit and fig.) to unearth; to dig into

挖掘机

wā jué jī

excavator

挖掘机械

wā jué jī xiè

excavator

掘出

jué chū

to exhume

掘土机

jué tǔ jī

excavator

掘墓工人

jué mù gōng rén

grave digger

掘墓鞭尸

jué mù biān shī

to exhume a body for public flogging (idiom)

掘客

jué kè

Digg (social news website)

More characters with 扌