jiǎ

first of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shi2 tian1 gan1]

(used for an unspecified person or thing); first (in a list, as a party to a contract etc); letter "A" or roman "I" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc; armor plating; shell or carapace; (of the fingers or toes) nail; bladed leather or metal armor (old); ranking system used in the Imperial examinations (old); civil administration unit in the baojia 保甲[bao3 jia3] system (old); ancient Chinese compass point: 75°

a picture of 甲 → a seed cracking open its shell: first, armor, nail

甲 originally depicted a seed with a sprout breaking through its shell — the very first push of life, which is why it came to mean 'first' and also 'shell' or 'armor.' The outer frame is the husk; the cross inside is the seedling forcing its way out.

An enclosureSemantic

合同上写明方和乙方的权利。

hé tong shàng xiě míng jiǎ fāng hé yǐ fāng de quán lì 。

The contract clearly states the rights of Party A and Party B.

他在这次考试中名列等。

tā zài zhè cì kǎo shì zhōng míng liè jiǎ děng 。

He ranked in the top grade in this exam.

Words with 甲

过氧化苯甲酰

guò yǎng huà běn jiǎ xiān

benzoil peroxide

过氧苯甲酰

guò yǎng běn jiǎ xiān

benzoil peroxide

邻苯二甲酸酯

lín běn èr jiǎ suān zhǐ

phthalate (chemistry)

酚甲烷

fēn jiǎ wán

(Tw) bisphenol A (BPA)

铠甲

kǎi jiǎ

armor

铁甲

tiě jiǎ

mail plating

铁甲船

tiě jiǎ chuán

armored ship

铁甲舰

tiě jiǎ jiàn

ironclad

铁甲车

tiě jiǎ chē

armored car

飞行甲板

fēi xíng jiǎ bǎn

flight deck

马六甲

mǎ liù jiǎ

Malacca or Melaka (town and state in Malaysia), also strait between Malaysia and Sumatra

马六甲海峡

mǎ liù jiǎ hǎi xiá

Strait of Malacca

More characters with 冂