About
The character 榫 is a phono-semantic compound used in carpentry and architecture to denote a tenon, a projecting piece of wood designed to fit into a mortise. The left-side semantic radical 木 (mù) means wood, establishing its connection to timber construction. The right-side component 隋 (sǔn) literally means falcon but functions here solely as the phonetic indicator. This character represents a core concept in traditional Chinese timber-frame architecture and furniture making, where interlocking wooden joints without nails were the standard. Its specialized meaning has remained consistent throughout history, referring exclusively to this jointing technique and the physical wooden protrusion itself.
Etymology Hide
