Definitions
to amputate one or both feet (punishment in imperial China) (one of the five mutilating punishments 五刑[wǔ xíng])
About
The character 刖 refers to a severe corporal punishment in early China involving the amputation of one or both feet. It is an ideogrammic compound: the left component is the flesh radical 月, indicating a body part, while the right side is the standing knife radical 刂, symbolizing the instrument used for the amputation. As this punishment was later abolished in dynastic penal codes, the character is now found only in historical texts discussing ancient laws, legal history, or accounts of those who endured this mutilation.
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