钉
釘dìng
#2,262 most
frequent character
to join things together by fixing them in place at one or more points
Character breakdown
Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
钉 joins 钅 metal with 丁 dīng, which supplies the sound. It first meant 'smelted gold plate'. The sense 'nail' grew because a nail's top can look like a small plate; from there came 'tack' and the verb 'to nail'. The sense 'follow closely' was borrowed for its sound, as a variant of 盯.
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Same Characters, Different Readings
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