severe, dramatic, theatrical play

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components
居 sound component

  Sound component

  

live

刂 meaning component

  Meaning component

dāo

  

knife

is a component form of .

Evolution

剧 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
剧 Traditional script Modern

Traditional script

Modern
剧 Simplified script Modern

Simplified script

Modern
Definitions

() 

theatrical plays, opera, drama; theatrical work (play, opera, TV series etc); dramatic (change, increase etc); acute; severe

Most common words with 剧
Freq.
Word
Meaning

acute

剧本

screenplay

悲剧

tragedy

电视剧

TV play

喜剧

comedy