Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The kanji 掘 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字) formed during the era of Small Seal Script (小篆) in China. Its semantic component is the radical 扌 (hand), indicating an action performed with the hands. The phonetic component is 屈, which originally depicted a tail entering a hole, conveying meanings of "bend," "submit," or "go into." Combined, they create the meaning "to dig," an action where the hand is used to bend into the earth and hollow it out. Historically, the character evolved from its Small Seal Script form, which was later standardized into the Clerical Script (隷書) and finally into the modern Kaisho (楷書) style used today. It was not among the earliest ancient Chinese characters like oracle bone or bronze scripts. The character, along with a vast body of Chinese writing and culture, was introduced to Japan in several waves, primarily from around the 5th century AD onwards via Korean scholars and directly from Chinese texts. It was systematically adopted into the Japanese writing system. A key linguistic note is the relationship between 掘 and its phonetic element 屈. While 屈 provides the sound "kutsu" (in On'yomi), it also contributes a core conceptual idea of "entering a cavity," which is semantically integral to the act of digging and creating a hole. This character is often used in words like 発掘 (hakkutsu - excavation) and 掘る (horu - to dig), showing its consistent application for digging, unearthing, or hollowing out.