• to hit, to strike, to beat;

Also a counting unit: “다스(타)” (a dozen, bundle).

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound:

手 (손 수, “hand”) - denotes action with the hand.

丁 (정, “nail, block”) - provides sound.

Thus originally “to strike with the hand or tool.”

Usage in Korean

打字 (타자) — to type (literally “strike characters”).

誤打 (오타) — typing mistake.

打電話 (전화하다) — to make a phone call.

打掃 (청소하다) — to clean.

打開 (열다) — to open.

In sports: “to hit” in baseball, boxing, etc.

Additional notes

Appears late (전서 → 해서), absent in earlier 예서.

Middle Chinese reading: 德令切 (tɛŋ → expected Sino-Korean 정).

But by Ming dynasty, the nasal final disappeared, and ta became standard.

Very productive in Mandarin: forms collocations with many verbs (打工, 打算, 打擊, 打折).

chil
ta
Kangxi radical:64, + 2
Strokes:5
Unicode:U+6253
Cangjie input:
  • 手一弓 (QMN)
Composition:
  • ⿰ 扌 丁

Neighboring characters in the dictionary

References

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