The meaning “secret method” comes from the idea of important knowledge transmitted orally.
Today, 訣 is most commonly encountered in compounds like 祕訣 (비결) meaning “key to success”.
 
Related characters:

to separate, to part, to distinguish, to differ

to hide, to conceal, secret

word, speech

 — semantic component meaning “speech; words”;


to divide, to cut apart

— phonetic component indicating the sound (결 / jué).
The original sense relates to spoken words at the moment of parting, which later extended to important spoken instructions or secrets.
 
Semantic development:
- words spoken at parting;
- to say farewell; to separate;
- secret method or essential formula.

결별 (訣別) — farewell; parting
비결 (祕訣) — secret; key method; know-how
구결 (口訣) — mnemonic formula; oral instruction

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

count, calculation

to ask, to inquire, to question

to attack, to punish, to subjugate

to teach, to instruct

to entrust, to request, to rely on

to record, to note down, to remember, record, account, chronicle

to be false, to be incorrect, mistaken

to litigate, to bring a lawsuit, to dispute, to argue

farewell, to part, secret method, formula

to stammer, to speak slowly or haltingly, to be inarticulate

to look for, to seek, to visit, to ask, to inquire

to establish, to set up, to found

to permit, to approve, to allow

to appeal, to complain, to bring a lawsuit

medical examination, to diagnose

to annotate, to comment

to deceive by words

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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

訣

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Additional notes

Words that derived from 訣

Neighboring characters in the dictionary