How to write 臼

臼 [jiù] 名词 1. A tool for pounding rice, made of stone or wood, with a hollowed center. 2. An object shaped like a mortar. 动词 Pound rice with pestles. 形容词 1. Having the shape of a molar; as in molar teeth. Terms like 臼齿 and 臼头深目 (describing an extremely ugly appearance) illustrate this meaning; also used in phrases like 臼科 (a pit resembling a mortar). 2. Low. 引文 1. "说文" (Shuōwén): 臼, 舂也. 古者掘地为臼，其后穿木石. (Mortar means to pound. In ancient times, they dug into the ground to make mortars, later using wood and stone.) 2. "易·系辞下" (Yì Xìcí Xià): 断木为杵，掘地为臼. (Chopping wood to make pestles and digging into the ground to make mortars.) 3. 贾思勰 (Jiǎ Sīxié) "齐民要术": 择满臼，舂之而不碎. (Select filled mortars and pound them without crushing.) 例子 如: 臼杵 (mortar and pestle); 臼塘 (a wooden mortar carved in the shape of a boat, also known as a vessel); 臼中无釜 (metaphor for a deceased wife). 2. Referring to objects resembling a mortar. 如: 药臼 (herb mortar); 石臼 (stone mortar); 捣臼 (pounding mortar). 动词 用臼舂米 (Pound rice with pestles). 引文 1. 清· 周容 "芋老人传": 织纺井臼. (In this context, 臼 is used as a verb: to pound rice.) 形容词 1. Shaped like a mortar; as in molar teeth. Examples include: molar teeth, 臼头深目 (extremely ugly), and 臼科 (mortar-shaped pit). 2. Low. 引文 1. 明· 刘基 "诚意伯刘文成公文集": 岸外而臼中. (In the center of the mortar means something is sunken.)