CJK Unified Ideograph-69D4

槔 is the gāo in 桔槔: a water-lifting lever. The term names a counterweighted wooden lever for raising water from a well or nearby source, especially for gardens and fields. The earliest textual witness discussed here is Warring States-associated material in the Zhuangzi’s 天地 chapter, where 子貢 describes a rear-heavy, front-light lever. That is evidence of early use, not proof of one inventor or invention date.

Lexicons keep the tool sense and extend it to a simple hoist. In Zhuangzi’s 天運 passage the same device becomes a philosophical comparison: pulled, it dips; released, it rises, an image of conduct that responds to circumstances. Histories of irrigation list 辘轳, 翻车, and 筒车 beside it as separate mechanisms, not alternate spellings of 槔.

How do I type 槔?

Type gao and choose 槔; use the compound if needed. On a Pinyin method, type gao and pick 槔 from the candidates, or copy it from the palette above. Because the character is normally met in 桔槔, typing jie gao and keeping the second character is the easiest fallback. This is a font-drawn CJK glyph, so an odd shape means a typeface or variant form, not phone emoji artwork.