駕 emphasizes control or mastery over movement, which led to the meaning to surpass.

Related characters:


horse

cart, vehicle, wagon, wheele

to drive (a horse or carriage), to control, to govern, to lead

 — to drive a chariot

In classical texts, 駕 could be a respectful reference to an emperor’s presence or carriage.

 — semantic component meaning “horse;”


to add, to join, to increase

 — phonetic component supplying the sound (가 / jià).
The character originally described attaching a horse to a carriage, indicating the act of driving or riding.

Semantic development:
- to harness horses with a yoke;
- to ride or drive a vehicle;
- a carriage or vehicle;
- to surpass or exceed someone or something.
The meaning expanded from controlling a horse-drawn vehicle to metaphorical superiority.

駕 often appears in words meaning to exceed or surpass.
능가 (凌駕) — to surpass; to excel
가마 (駕馬) — riding a horse (classical usage)

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

famine, food shortage, time of famine or crop failure

side dish

to starve, to be famished, famine, dearth

to covet, to crave, to be greedy, gluttonous

stuff into the mouth, to gobble up greedily

to gallop, to run swiftly, to hasten

to contradict, to refute, to mix

to stay, to halt, to be stationed

yoke, to harness, to drive, to ride, to surpass

to ride (a horse), rider, cavalry

to disturb, to be noisy, to be troubled

to drive (a horse or vehicle), to expel, to chase away

test, examination, to verify, to inspect

to be startled, to be surprised, to be alarmed, to frighten, to scare

post station, relay station (for horses and officials in ancient times), station, stop, terminal

bone, skeleton, bare remains

bone, skeleton

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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.

駕

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Additional notes

Neighboring characters in the dictionary