椎

A phono-semantic compound, consists of:

木 (tree; wood) — semantic component, indicates a wooden object;

隹 — phonetic component, supplies the pronunciation "chuī / zhuī."

Original image "a wooden striking tool."

Semantic Development ───

- wooden hammer → striking instrument;

- something long and cylindrical;

- vertebra (spinal bone).

The extension to "vertebra" comes from the shape "elongated, jointed bone resembling a club-like form."

추골 (椎骨) — vertebra

척추 (脊椎) — spine

The meaning “쇠몽치” is classical; modern Korean mainly uses the anatomical sense in compounds.

椎 specifically refers to individual spinal segments (vertebrae).

In classical texts, 椎 could refer to a crude or simple weapon.

In modern usage, it is primarily medical terminology.

Related characters:

槌 — hammer

鎚 — metal hammer

脊 — backbone

骨 — bone