穴 Radical 116 — a cave, a hole; a pit-dwelling

Where the shape comes from

A dwelling dug into the loess: the roof 宀 above, and beneath it the two strokes of the sides falling away to leave the mouth of the hole open. It marks holes and hollow spaces and the rooms cut into them: 空 empty, 窗 a window, 究 to look into the bottom of something, 穿 to bore through and so to put a garment on.

characters filed under 穴

• 穿chuān (first tone, high and level)to pierce, to bore through; to pass through, to cross; to wear, to put on (clothes, shoes)9