sǔnmǎo 榫卯

Note

Sunmao refers to traditional joinery in wood or other materials. Sun 榫 is usually translated as tenon, and mao 卯 as mortise. However, sunmao as a technical term refers not only to the mortise-and-tenon joint (which is only one type of joinery), but was also a broad term for traditional joinery in general, including a variety of other geometric forms.

The compound term sunmao first appeared in the Song dynasty. For instance, the Chuijianlu waiji 吹劍錄外集 records Yichuan 伊川 (Cheng Yi 程頤, 1033-1107) equating ruizao 枘鑿 with sunmao, implying that sun is rui (tenon) and mao is zao (mortise) (Yu 1250.50a). Rui and zao are earlier terms referring to wood joint components. In the Eastern Zhou text Wenzi 文子, we read that the square rui (tenon) is inserted into the circular zao (mortise) (猶持方枘而內圓鑿也; Wang 2000, 413). Yang Ming's 楊明 (Ming dynasty) annotation in Xiuxilu 髤飾錄 states that the female beam (pinliang 牝梁) has a orifice, hence it has the characteristic of yin 陰 (concave), while the male beam (muliang 牡梁) has a tenon, hence it has the characteristic of yang 陽 (protruding) (牝梁有竅故為陰道, 牡梁有榫故為陽道, Huang and Yang 1625, 1.6b). Liang Tongshu’s 梁同書 (1723-1815) Pinluo'an Yiji 頻羅庵遺集 records that as long as two pieces of wood are connected, the protruding part entering the void is called sun (tenon) and the concave part receiving the surplus is called mao (mortise) (凡剡木相入, 以盈入虛謂之筍, 以虛受盈謂之卯; Liang 1871, 14.424a). The modern dictionary Cihai defines sunmao as the joint between two parts in a wooden object, with the protruding part called suntou 榫(筍)頭 (lit. “mortise head”) and the concave part called maoyan 卯眼 (lit. “tenon eye”) (Cihai bianji weiyuanhui 2009, 3751; 5322).2

Although sunmao first appeared as a compound word in the Song dynasty, sun and mao occur separately in earlier literature, reflecting potential regional and chronological differences. Sun and mao independently (or in combination with other characters) consistently express the bidirectional construction of convex-concave nodes. It was only beginning in the Republican Period that sunmao commonly appeared as a compound term in woodworking books.

榫卯是指木製（或其他材料）器物中節點的傳統做法。一般的辭書將之定義為榫頭與卯口。但榫卯在技術上不僅指稱榫頭卯口的連接形式，還包括多種其他幾何關係咬合的結構狀態，因此榫卯可泛指“中國傳統木構節點”。

榫卯這一術語最早出現在宋代，見於宋《吹劍錄外集》“伊川（北宋理學家程頤）雲，枘鑿者，榫卯也”。將榫定義為枘，卯定義為鑿（俞1250，50a）。其中枘、鑿為先秦至宋之間中表示榫卯凸凹構造的術語，枘為凸，鑿為凹（《文子》猶持方枘而內圓鑿也（王 2000，473））。宋以後直到當代，各類辭書或注釋都將榫卯解釋為凸出（雄、陽、盈）的榫頭與鑿空（雌、陰、虛）的卯口（明代楊明在《髤飾錄》裏的注釋“牝梁有竅故為陰道，牡梁有榫故為陽道”（黄和杨 1625，1.6b）。清代梁同書《頻羅庵遺集》“凡剡木相入，以盈入虛謂之筍，以虛受盈謂之卯”（梁 1871，14.424a）。現代《辭海》釋義榫卯為“木器中兩部分接合的地方，突出的部分叫‘榫（筍）頭’，鑿空的部分叫‘卯眼’”（辭海編輯委員會 2009，3751; 5322）。2

雖然在一般文獻中“榫卯”自宋代開始搭配使用，但在匠作及技術書籍中，“榫”“卯”二字已經早於宋代分別出現，且各自使用的時代、地域不同。“榫”與“卯”，或獨立使用，或與其他漢字搭配，用來表達器物節點中凸凹雙向的構造。直到民國，榫卯的合稱才出現在木工技術書籍之中。

Related concepts

榫 sǔn

卯 mǎo

鑿枘 záoruì

筍 sǔn (alternate character for 榫)

笋 sǔn (alternate character for 榫)

卯口 mǎokǒu

卯眼 mǎoyǎn

入榫 rùsǔn

榫眼 sǔnyǎn

榫竅 sǔnqiào

Broad Match: joint components