箸

筯

zhù

竹 + 者

Definitions

zhù variant of 箸[zhù]

zhù (literary) chopsticks

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound.

Semantic: ⺮ Phonetic: 者

About

箸 (zhù) is a phono-semantic compound combining ⺮ (竹, bamboo), the material traditionally used to make chopsticks, with 者 (zhě) as the phonetic component giving the sound zhu. It is the classical and formal term for these East Asian eating utensils, though in modern spoken Mandarin it has largely been replaced by 筷子 (kuàizi) and now survives mainly in regional dialects, historical texts, and formal compounds.