How to Write 铗 (jiá) — Meaning “Pincers / Sword handle”

Imagine a metal (钅) clamp (夹) that you use to pick up hot objects, like a pair of tongs. The right part 夹 looks like a claw pinching something, so picture metal claws squeezing together to form pincers.

The left radical 钅 is written in 5 strokes: first a short left-falling stroke, then three horizontal strokes, and finally a vertical lift (竖提) — not a hook. The right part 夹 has 6 strokes: start with a horizontal, then left-falling, horizontal, left-falling, right-falling, and a final left-falling; make sure the center is narrower than the two outer strokes.

Both 钙 (gài, calcium) and 钚 (bù, plutonium) are chemical element characters with the metal radical plus a phonetic component. In contrast, 铗 uses 夹 as both a phonetic and semantic part, so it means a tool (pincers) rather than an element. Visually, 钙 has 丐 on the right, and 钚 has 不, while 铗 has 夹.

铗 appears in words for tongs and pincers, such as 火铗 (fire tongs) and 铁铗 (iron tongs), mostly in technical or specialized contexts. It is also used in classical literature for sword handles, as in the idiom "长铗归来乎" (Long sword, let's go home) from a famous historical story, but this usage is rare today.

Common words containing 铗 include: 铗子 (jiá zi) — Pincers / Tongs; 火铗 (huǒ jiá) — Fire tongs; 铁铗 (tiě jiá) — iron tongs / iron pincers.