Chinese Character 柞

In plant terms, 柞 names an oak; in older texts, it means clearing trees. Modern Chinese uses it in compounds: 柞木 means oak wood, 柞蚕 names a silkworm fed on oak leaves, and 柞丝绸 is silk made from that silkworm.

The character appears on an inscribed bronze vessel from the late Western Zhou, an early Chinese dynasty. The Shuowen Jiezi, an early Chinese dictionary, defines 柞 as a tree. The Shijing, an early poetry anthology, uses it for clearing trees to open fields; the Zhouli, an early book of government duties, describes a 柞氏 official charged with clearing woodland.

How do you pronounce 柞?

In Mandarin Pinyin, use zuò for plant terms and zhà in 柞水. Pinyin writes Mandarin sounds with Roman letters; the tone mark matters when reading aloud. The older tree-clearing sense is also recorded with the Pinyin reading zé, so no single reading fits every context.