One character a day, easy to master Chinese characters. Let's take a look at the basic knowledge of "束".

 

束 shù
Explnantion: control
Phrases: 束缚shù fù:restrict


“Shu” is an associative character, with the square structure in its oracle bone inscription version resembling strings, and the three strokes in the middle representing firewood. The character thus gives the message of tying up pieces of firewood, hence its original meaning - to bind or tie. The square is changed to a circle in the small seal script, and back to a square in the regular script, with the “mu” (“木”, meaning “wood”) radical replacing the three pieces of firewood.

From the original meaning, a host of other meanings are derived, including “control”, “restrain”, “manage”, and “the result of an event”. In Chinese, “shu” is also a measure word. When combined with a numeral, it indicates the number of things tied up.

Sentences

Nǐ bùnéng yíbèizi bèi zhège tiěsuǒliàn shùfù zhe ya!
你不能一辈子被这个铁锁链束缚着呀!
You should break away from the constraint some day!