Xu Collection, Upper Volume
Radical: Metal (jīn)
Anchor
Kangxi strokes: 16
Page 1312, Entry 02
According to the Five Sounds Collection and Rhymes (Wuyin Jiyun), pronounced miao. According to the Jade Chapters (Yupian), it refers to a device. According to Jiao Hong's Corrections of Vulgar Scripts (Sushu Kanwu), an iron cat on a ship is called an anchor. Some say anchor is the same. It is an implement with four pronged corners at the bow and stern of a ship, connected by an iron chain and cast into the water to keep the ship from moving or swaying. Colloquially read as mao. Although the sounds of mao and miao are different, their usage is the same.
Textual research: In Jiao Hong's Corrections of Vulgar Scripts (Sushu Kanwu), the original text refers to the four-pronged iron object; the text has been corrected to reflect this.