抉

jué

夬 + 扌

Definitions

jué to pick out; to single out

Etymology

To choose 夬 by hand 扌; 夬 also provides the pronunciation

About

抉 (jué) is a phono-semantic compound formed by the hand radical 扌 (shǒu) and the phonetic component 夬 (guài). The hand radical indicates a manual action, while 夬, an ancient character for decisiveness or breaking apart, also provides the pronunciation jué. The original meaning is the physical act of picking out, plucking, or extracting something from a larger group. Over time, this literal sense of manual extraction metaphorically shifted to the abstract notion of making a choice or decision. This abstract usage is now central to the common compound 抉择 (juézé), which denotes a difficult, significant choice among multiple alternatives.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

他面临重要抉择。

Tā miànlín zhòngyào juézé.

He faces an important choice.

我们需要慎重抉择。

Wǒmen xūyào shènzhòng juézé.

We need to choose carefully.

在困难中抉择不易。

Zài kùnnan zhōng juézé bù yì.

It is not easy to make a choice in difficult times.

她终于抉择了未来道路。

Tā zhōngyú juézéle wèilái dàolù.

She finally chose her future path.

面对两个机会，他抉择了很久。

Miàn duì liǎng gè jīhuì, tā juézéle hěnjiǔ.

Facing two opportunities, he deliberated for a long time.

人生的抉择往往影响一生。

Rénshēng de juézé wǎngwǎng yǐngxiǎng yīshēng.

Life's choices often affect one's entire life.

如果必须抉择，我会选前者。

Rúguǒ bìxū juézé, wǒ huì xuǎn qiánzhě.

If I must choose, I will choose the former.

在道德与利益之间抉择是艰难的。

Zài dàodé yǔ lìyì zhī jiān juézé shì jiānnán de.

Choosing between morality and interest is difficult.

Related Characters

Component: 夬

Component: 扌

抉