塞

sè
#1,078 most
frequent character
to stop up, to stuff, to cope with

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

塞 began as two hands shoving things into a building, filling it. Read sāi, it means 'to fill or block'; sè means 'to obstruct', and sài is an isolated border pass. 土, earth, was added later to strengthen the idea of blockage.

Drawn as: two hands shifting things; house being filled

塞 as a component in other characters

sound1 character
噻

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Same Characters, Different Readings

塞Sai1
Serbia, Serbian
塞sāi
fill in, squeeze, stuff, stopper
塞sài
strategic pass, tactical border position

Homophones

色sè
colour, look, expression, scene
瑟sè
a type of standing harp, smaller than konghou 箜篌, with 5-25 strings

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