絶

Form development:

Oracle bone script (甲骨文) and bronze script (金文): the earliest forms looked very different from today’s shape. They showed two skeins of thread being chopped apart with a knife, representing the idea of “cutting/severing.”

Bronze inscriptions: the form 𢇍, with four 幺 (threads) placed between 刀 (knife) strokes, visually depicts threads being chopped.

Seal script (小篆): evolved into a phono-semantic compound, combining 糸 (thread) with 刀 (knife) and the phonetic 卩 (절).

Clerical and standard script: two shapes coexisted:

絕 – the “canonical” form, directly continuing from seal script;

絶 – an alternate form, where the knife component shifted shape.

This became more widespread in later tradition.

절대 (絶對) – absolute

절멸 (絶滅) – extinction

절교 (絶交) – breaking off friendship

절연 (絶緣) – cutting electrical connection, or breaking relations

절식 (絶食) – fasting, abstaining from food

위편삼절 (韋編三絶) – idiom: to wear out the leather strap of a book from much study

Distinction from similar characters:

切 (절) – to cut, slice. Usually physical cutting.

截 (절) – to cut off, intercept, truncate.

絶 (절) – to completely sever, break off, end absolutely.

In practice, overlaps exist: e.g. in idioms like 韋編三絶 (“to wear out the binding cords of bamboo slips”) or 絶長補短 (“cut the long, mend the short”), 絶 refers to literal cutting.

In modern Korea, 絕 is officially preferred in 한문교육용 지정 한자 and in the Standard Korean Language Dictionary, but 絶 is still widely used in print.

In the 2021 Korean CSAT (수능), an exam question used the form 絶 instead of the officially prescribed 絕. This caused complaints because textbooks and official teaching materials consistently used 絕. While not enough to overturn the question, it revealed ongoing confusion between the two forms.