镪
sulfuric acid; money; string of coins
Closest English meanings
strings of coins·silver
The Calligrapher — Huáng Tíngjiān 黄庭坚
Song master of elongated, radical running and cursive script.
Song calligrapher (1045–1105), master of running script/cursive script — Song master of long, sweeping, deliberately stretched running strokes. Song dynasty
Cultural Story
《説文解字》 explains 镪 as 錢貫也, a string threaded through cash coins, the usual way copper currency was counted and carried in imperial China. Merchants tied hundreds of round coins on a cord, and 镪 became a word for wealth in motion. Later it could mean silver in bulk, and by extension hoarded treasure kept from circulation by the rich.
Common words & phrases
- 银镪 silver ingots
- 镪水 acid (corrosive liquid)
- 藏镪 hoarded money
Read the story behind the character
Today 镪 mostly lingers in historical or literary settings: 银镪 means silver ingots, 藏镪 hoarded money hidden away by misers and officials. A separate, homophonous use gives 镪水 for corrosive acid, a borrowing from the sound rather than the sense of coins. You meet the word in costume dramas about buried treasure or in warnings about dangerous chemical 镪水 in old workshops.
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