荆 jīng thorns
thorns; brambles; surname
怎么记住“荆”: 艹 grass + 开 open + 刂 knife = thorns. Off the trail, the boy pushes through tall grass, cuts an open path with his pocket knife, and still ends up in the thorns.
部件结构
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
荆 = 茾 medicinal herb + 刂 knife
- 茾 medicinal herb
- 艹 grass
- 开 open
- 一 one
- 廾 two hands
- 刂 knife
Off the trail, the boy pushes through tall grass, cuts an open path with his pocket knife, and still ends up in the thorns.
How it came to be
Grass gives the meaning and the rest the sound; the word first named a kind of shrub.
用法
- Thorns/brambles: 荆棘 (jīngjí) thorns and brambles, standing for hardship: 披荆斩棘 (pījīng-zhǎnjí) to hack through thorns = overcome great obstacles to blaze a trail.
- Also in 负荆请罪 (fùjīng-qǐngzuì) to bear the birch and beg forgiveness, i.e. offer a humble apology. Literary/idiomatic; also a surname.