剝

A phono-semantic compound consisting of:

刀 (knife) — semantic component

彔 (engrave; record) — phonetic component

The knife radical clearly indicates cutting, slicing, or removing, while 彔 supplies the sound and originally carried the idea of marking or carving, reinforcing the sense of removal layer by layer.

The earliest meaning of 剝 was "to remove an outer layer using a blade." This referred specifically to peeling bark from trees or skinning animals.

剝奪 (박탈) — deprivation; dispossession

剝皮 (박피) — flaying; skinning

剝削 (박삭) — exploitation

剝落 (박락) — peeling off; exfoliation

In the Yijing, 剝 represents the final stage before collapse, followed by 復 (return).

The character often carries negative moral weight, implying injustice or loss.

Unlike 脫 (“to take off”), 剝 implies violence or unwillingness.

Related characters:

削 — to shave; pare down

奪 — to seize (taking by force)

割 — to cut (decisively)

皮 — skin

彔 — carve; record

脫 — to take off (voluntarily)

Classical citations:

Book of Changes (Yijing)

「 剝，不利有攸往」

“Stripping away is not auspicious for any endeavor.”

Here 剝 symbolizes decay, loss, and erosion, both materially and morally.

Historical prose

「 剝民以奉上」

“To strip the people in order to serve those above.”

A typical Legalist-era usage where 剝 expresses economic exploitation.

In Buddhist translations, 剝 appears in contexts describing:

- stripping away illusion

- removing attachments

- deprivation caused by suffering