It is a phono-semantic compound, consisting of 衣 (“clothing”) as the semantic element and 𢦏 (jae) as the phonetic element.
Historically, its core meaning was cutting cloth for clothing, and from this concrete sense it broadened to the figurative meanings of deciding, judging, ruling.

裁 retains its original imagery of cutting fabric while also standing as a core character for the abstract ideas of decision-making, judgment, and ruling in East Asian languages.
In modern Korean, 재 (裁) appears in words relating to judgment, decision, and cutting:
재단 (裁斷) – cutting cloth; also judgment, decision
재판 (裁判) – trial, court judgment
제재 (制裁) – sanction, restriction
재정 (裁定) – ruling, arbitration

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

skill, craft, art, talent, cultivated ability

to revive, to come back to life, resurrection, revival

to dwell, to reside, to deal with, place, location

to capture, to take prisoner, captive, prisoner, barbarian

art, skill, technique, method, way

cross yoke (of an ox, in carriage, etc.)

outside, surface, to show

to wear, to cover oneself with, garment, quilt

to cut cloth, to tailor, to decide, to judge, to govern

important, essential, necessary

rule, law, regulation, compass (drawing tool), to plan, to scheme

to be close, intimate, relatives, parents, direct, personal

to realize, to perceive, to awaken, to reveal

to look, to observe, to behold, inspect

to see, to observe, to view

to untie, to loosen, to solve, to explain, to understand

to teach, to instruct

Explore the meaning, etymology and usage of this Chinese character. Learn its radical and how it is applied in Korean language.

Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

裁

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Characters next to each other in the list

References