Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
作 joins 亻 person with 乍, which shows a tree being cut by a blade and also gives the sound. The first sense was 'cut tree with blade', later written 柞. With 亻, the meaning grew to 'to do', then 'to make' and 'product'.
Drawn as: tree cut by blade
Sign in to add this word to your private lists.