About
The character "秤" specifically denotes a weighing scale or steelyard, a meaning it acquired by building upon the older and more general character "稱", which broadly meant to weigh, to call, or to name. Its structural composition is semantically transparent, combining the radical "禾", representing grain as a fundamental commodity to be measured, with the phonetic and semantic component "平", meaning level or balanced, to directly depict an instrument that brings things to balance for measurement. Over time, "秤" became the standard, specialized graph for the physical instrument itself, effectively narrowing and solidifying its semantic field away from the verbal and abstract senses retained by its progenitor "稱", and it stands as an example of a Chinese character created to clarify a specific, concrete tool within a broader conceptual field.
Example Sentences Hide
桌子上有一个秤。
妈妈用秤称了体重。
超市里有一个公平秤。
这个电子秤很准确。
他用秤杆称了货物的重量。
为了确保公平，市场设置了秤。
如果秤不准，测量结果就会出错。
现代科技使得电子秤成为了日常生活中不可或缺的工具。