Korean Hanja for a marked wooden item

栍 names a marked wooden tag, slip, or stake.

Hanja are Chinese characters used in Korean writing. In 栍, 木 marks wood, while 生 supplies the Korean syllable written 생.

The meaning shifts in compounds: 長栍 names a marker post, 講栍 an examination scoring tablet, and 抽栍 the act of drawing a marked slip or lot.

How old is the marker-post tradition?

The marker-post tradition predates this exact graph.

An inscription from Silla, an early Korean kingdom, dated 759 uses 長生標柱 for a related marker post. It documents the post tradition, not necessarily the exact character 栍.

Later Korean records describe marker posts by roads and monasteries; some served as village guardians. During the Joseon dynasty, 栍 also named institutional objects: 講栍 was a bamboo examination scoring tablet. A 1726 court record uses 抽栍 for drawing a selected text or jurisdiction.

What does 栍 mean when someone sends it alone?

Alone, 栍 does not tell you which term is meant.

A single 栍 cannot identify whether the writer means a marker post, an exam tablet, or a drawn lot. Ask for the surrounding Korean word before treating it as a reaction.