Yin Collection, Upper Volume
Radical: Corpse (shī)
Kangxi Strokes: 12
Page 303, Entry 12
Broad Rhymes (Guangyun), Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), Rhyme Anthology (Yunhui), and Correct Rhymes (Zhengyun) all pronounce it as tu (level tone).
Explanatory Notes on Characters (Shuowen Jiezi) defines it as to dissect or hollow out. The character structure consists of the radical for corpse and the phonetic component zhe.
Also, Broad Rhymes (Guangyun) lists the meanings of to slaughter or to tear apart.
Book of Zhou Rites (Zhouli), section for Market Officials (Chanren), records: Anyone who slaughters livestock shall collect their hides, horns, tendons, and bones, and submit them to the Jade Treasury.
Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), Biography of Lord Xinling, records: I am a person of the marketplace who wields a knife and slaughters.
Also, History of the Former Han (Qianhanshu), Annals of Emperor Gao, records: Now we shall slaughter the people of Pei.
It also serves as a surname. Records of Lost Matters (Shiyiji) states: After the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) expelled Chiyou, he relocated the virtuous people to the land of Zoutu and exiled the wicked to the northern wilderness. Their ancestors took the name of their residence as their clan name, which later split into the Zou and Tu families.
There is also the compound surname Shentu.
Also, Broad Rhymes (Guangyun) gives the pronunciation as chu (level tone), while Collected Rhymes (Jiyun) and Rhyme Anthology (Yunhui) give the pronunciation as chu (level tone). This refers to Xiutu, a title for a Xiongnu king. Xiu is pronounced similarly to xiu (rising tone).
Textual Research: Book of Zhou Rites (Zhouli), section for Officers of the Earth (Diguan), records: Those who slaughter shall collect their hides, horns, and tendons, and submit them to the Royal Treasury. We have carefully corrected the original text by changing Officers of the Earth to Market Officials (Chanren). The character for bones has been added after tendons. Entered in the Royal Treasury has been changed to submitted to the Jade Treasury.
Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), Biography of Lord Xinling, records: I am a person of the marketplace, wielding a knife and slaughtering. We have carefully corrected the original text by changing under the market to one who wields a knife and slaughters.
