• to draw, to carve, to divide;

Etymology

It is an ideogrammic compound, consisting of:

畫 (hwa, “picture, to draw”);

刀 (do, “knife”).

The idea is “to slash or draw lines with a knife as if drawing a picture,” hence the meaning “to mark, to draw lines, to carve.”

Usage in Korean

Still extremely common in compounds relating to planning and dividing.

획정 (劃定) – to set, to demarcate, to define

계획 (計劃) – plan, scheme

분획 (分劃) – division, apportionment

구획 (區劃) – partition, zoning, boundary marking

Additional notes

Closely tied to 畫 (화) in etymology, but in Korean usage clearly distinguished:

畫 - picture, painting, plan

劃 - stroke, marking, demarcation

Alternative forms

㓰 is a variant of 劃, but rarely used.

Although 畫 also historically had the gloss “그을 획” (to draw a line), in Korean it is now almost always restricted to “그림 화” (picture, drawing).

그을
geueul
hoek
Kangxi radical:18, + 12
Strokes:14
Unicode:U+5283
Cangjie input:
  • 中一中弓 (LMLN)
Composition:
  • ⿰ 畫 刂

Neighboring characters in the dictionary

References

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