About
The character 铆 is a phono-semantic compound meaning "rivet" or "to rivet". Its left component, the metal radical 钅, indicates a connection to metal or metalworking. The right component, 卯, provides the pronunciation "mǎo" and historically evokes the interlocking concept of mortise-and-tenon joints, which relates to riveting's fastening function. The traditional form is 鉚, with the unsimplified metal radical 釒. The term specifically denotes the mechanical process of joining metal plates by hammering a metal pin.