Radical 角

7 strokes

bow (51a) + use 用 (130) = dime 角

You will sometimes see this character in an older form where the middle vertical line does not extend beyond the bottom horizontal line (so the inside part looks like “earth” rather than “criminal”).

This character means 1/10 of a yuan, or ten cents — another character (毛, Character 453) is used colloquially for the same thing. Other meanings for 角 are “angle”, “corner” or (actor’s) “role”.

[九角五分 (38, 36, 73) jiǔ jiǎo wǔ fēn ninety five cents]

[三角 (3) sānjiǎo triangle]

The beggar bows to passers by and says, “Buddy, I could use a dime.” / He’s a bit miffed as further down the sidewalk two teddies are jousting to amuse the crowds (and raking it in).