How to Write 碡 (dú/zhóu) — Meaning “Stone roller (farming tool)”

Imagine a heavy stone roller (石) crushing poison ivy (毒) in a field. The poison ivy gives you the sound "dú", and the stone roller shows the object's material. This visual helps link the form, sound, and meaning together.

Write the left radical 石 first (5 strokes: horizontal, left-falling, vertical, horizontal, horizontal), then the right part 毒 (9 strokes starting with horizontal, vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, horizontal, horizontal, vertical fold, vertical, dot). A common mistake is making the upper part of 毒 too wide, so keep it compact and balanced with the stone radical.

碡 (dú) means a stone roller for threshing grain, while 硝 (xiāo) is saltpeter (a chemical) and 硪 (wò) is a stone roller used for pounding earth. Visually, 碡 has 毒 on the right, 硝 has 肖, and 硪 has 我. Their pronunciations and uses are different, so context tells them apart.

碡 is not common in daily speech; it mainly appears in the word 碌碡 (liù zhóu), which refers to an old-fashioned stone roller for threshing grain. Today, it is mostly found in historical texts, rural dialects, or when describing traditional farming tools. It carries cultural significance as a symbol of pre-industrial agriculture in China.

Common words containing 碡 include: 碌碡 (liù zhóu) — Stone roller (for threshing grain); 石碡 (shí dú) — stone roller; 碡压 (dú yā) — To press with a stone roller.