Taxonomy of meanings for 啄:　　

  • 啄 zhuó (OC: rtooɡ MC: ʈɯɔk) 竹角切 入 廣韻：【鳥啄也又丁木切 】
    • BEAK
      • nbird's beak
      • nadVinstrumentwith the beak 啄息
    • BITE
      • vt[oN]peck at things, eat
      • vtoNpeck at (in order to eat)
      • vtoNfigurativepick faults with, "nibble at", attack
    • KNOCK
      • CALLIGRAPHY
        • ONOMATOPOETICA
        • 啄 dú (OC: tooɡ MC: tuk) 丁木切 入 廣韻：【啄木鳥 】

          Additional information about 啄

          說文解字: 【啄】，鳥食也。从口、豖聲。 【竹角切】

            Criteria
          • BEAK

            [NOUN/PARTICLE/VERB]

            1. The current general word for a beak is zhòu 咮.

            [VERB]

            2. Zhuó 啄 is to peck with a beak and is probably derived from the preceding. See BITE

            [NOUN]

          • BITE

            [[COMMON/RARE]]

            [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

            [HABITUAL/OCCASIONAL]

            NB: Curiously, none of the words for "to bite" are particularly common in ancient Chinese literature.

            1. Hé 齕 is a general word for biting, especially by dogs, and this word is not used adjectivally for "snappy, snappish".

            [GENERAL]

            2. Shì 噬 and refers to any person or animal biting into anything, also for dogs being prone to bite, snappy.

            [HABITUAL!]

            3. Zhuó 啄 is the pecking (or biting) of birds.

            [SPECIFIC]

            4. Yǎo 咬 refers very occasionally to the noise of gnashing one's teeth and the word is only mentioned in this group because by Tang times it came to mean "bite".

            [SPECIFIC]; [[RARE+]]

            5. Niè 齧／囓 is occasionally used to refer to the biting by a dog.

            [[RARE]]

            Word relations
          • Assoc: (BITE)食/EAT The general word is shí 食 which refers to any form of taking in food, but the word is probably primarily a noun meaning "food". Cf. 飯疏食 "dine on coarse food".
          • Assoc: (BITE)螫/STING
          • Synon: (BITE)擊/ATTACK