• to fill;
  • to stuff;
  • to plug;

Etymology

A phono-semantic compound composed of:

— semantic component meaning “earth; soil”;

(真) — phonetic component indicating the sound (전 / tián). The character originally referred to filling a hollow or gap with earth.
Semantic development: - to fill a hole with earth; - to fill up or stuff something; - to supply or make up for something lacking.

Usage in Korean

In modern Korean, the simplified variant 填 is often used interchangeably.
충전 (充塡) — filling; charging (e.g., battery charging) 보전 (補塡) — compensation; replenishment 매전 (埋塡) — filling up with earth; reclamation

Additional notes

Related characters: — to supplement

— to bury; cover with earth

— to fill; supply

These characters relate to filling, supplementing, or covering gaps.

Alternative forms

塡 is the older traditional form, while 填 became the more widely used form in modern Chinese and Japanese.

메울
me'ul
jeon
Kangxi radical:32, + 10
Strokes:13
Unicode:U+5861
Cangjie input:
  • 土心月金 (GPBC)
Composition:
  • ⿰ 土 眞

Neighboring characters in the dictionary

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