劂
usually seen in: (literary) a knife used for carving; a graver (剞劂)
Closest English meanings
to cut·to carve
The Calligrapher — Chǔ Suíliáng 褚遂良
Tang chancellor and regular-script master of elegant, balanced strokes.
Tang calligrapher (596–658), master of regular script — Tang master of graceful, tensile regular script favored by the imperial court. Tang dynasty
Cultural Story
(With 剞, the 劂 names the carving knife; to send a book 付之剞劂 was to send it to the block-cutter, the last step before ink. Zhang Heng's 西京赋 names the tools among the builders' gear. The character 劂 is the graver that cuts the word into wood. It lives in the language of the press.
Common words & phrases
- 剞劂 engraving · carving tools
Read the story behind the character
The 版本学 lecture cites 付剞劂 for the first edition. The museum labels the 剞劂 beside the block. A student meets 劂 only in the note on a colophon. The word now names the carver's art read in the history of the book. The 版本学 lecture cites 付剞劂 for the first edition, and the museum labels the 剞劂 beside the carved block.
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