作

zuō
#49 most
frequent character
(bound form) worker, (bound form) workshop

Character breakdown

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

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Same Characters, Different Readings

作zuò
rise, compose, pretend, affect

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