Han character 𢻤

Its meaning depends on which historical dictionary you follow. The earliest dictionary witness identified is Longkan Shoujing, a Chinese Buddhist character dictionary compiled around 997; it records the reading 渠照切 but gives no gloss.

During the Ming dynasty, Hongwu Zhengyun, a pronunciation dictionary that groups characters by rhyme, lists 𢻤 as a form of 敽, an older character meaning “to tie or fasten.” Its cited phrase is “敽乃干”; 干 here means a shield. Another Ming character dictionary, Gusu Zilue, glosses 𢻤 as “striking a shield.” These entries do not show that the readings were interchangeable in everyday writing.

Is 𢻤 the same as 敲?

Not with confidence. A Chinese dictionary supplement, Zihui Bu, equates 𢻤 with 敲, whose Mandarin reading is qiāo and whose core sense is “knock.” A 2018 study of historical Chinese dictionaries says other rhyme books do not support that equation and finds no textual evidence that writers used the two forms interchangeably. Treat 敲 as a disputed gloss, not a default reading.

The same 2018 study suggests the form arose when copyists confused 支 and 攴, two similar-looking character components. In that account, 𢻤 is an evolved written variant, not a sign devised for a separate object or action.