【析形】甲骨文字形是会意字,会一个人的一只脚被人持锯子锯掉之意。小篆字形改作形声字,从刀,月声。 【释义】《说文》:“绝也。”《玉篇》:“刖,断足也。”本义是古代砍去犯人的脚或脚趾的一种酷刑。后又泛指截断。[再刖]双脚被砍掉。相传春秋楚国的卞和发现了一块璞玉,先后献给楚厉王、武王,都被认为欺诈,先后断其双脚。楚文王即位,使人剖璞加工,果得宝玉,称为“和氏璧”。后用作怀才未遇的典故。 【shape analysis】It is the associative character.In Oracle,it looks like a person's foot sawed by a man who holds a saw.In Small Seal script it was changed to the pictophonetic characters whose meaningful part is刀(dāo,knife)and the phonetic component is月(yuè). 【original meaning】The ancient way of torture by cutting the foot or toes.