to govern, to resist

Original meaning: 

to use, to control

Depicts a person () using a pestle (). also represents the sound. The (walk) component was later added to emphasize action. Based on the original meaning, “to use, to control”. The meaning later shifted to “to govern”. In simplified Chinese is also used to mean "to resist", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character .

Components
午 sound,iconic component

  Sound Iconic component

  

noon

Depicts a pestle.

卩 iconic component

  Iconic component

jié

  

person kneeling

Depicts a kneeling person.

辵 meaning component

  Meaning component

chuò

  

walk

Evolution

御 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
御 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
御 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
御 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
御 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

to resist; imperial; (classical) to drive (a chariot); to manage; to govern

() 

defend, resist, hold out against; to defend

Most common words with 御
Freq.
Word
Meaning

防御

defense

to resist

抵御

to resist

御用

imperial

御医

imperial physician

Component uses

Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*m-[qʰ](r)aʔ

ngjoX

ward off; withstand

*[ŋ](r)a-s

ngjoH

drive a chariot (loan)


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 6.1189% of movies

2232nd most common character in movies

1381st most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

12

Traditional

Unicode

U+5FA1

Shuowen

“御,使馬也。从彳,从卸。馭,古文御。从又,从馬。”


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