著

• Composition: To write, compose, or author a work; the resulting written work (e.g., a treatise or book).
• Contact and Appearance: To touch, reach, arrive at, or land upon; to wear or put on clothing; obvious, evident, prominent, or striking.

• When used as "to write," it is typically transitive.
• When used as "manifest" or "obvious," it frequently serves as a predicate adjective.
• In the senses of "wearing" or "reaching," it functions as an active verb of motion or state.

The glyph's usage generally follows two trajectories: scholarly/abstract (composition) versus physical/perceptual (contact, clothing, and manifestation).

Variants U+7740 and U+8457 are standard orthographic variants and should generally be treated as interchangeable with 著.

The phonetic distinction between the readings—zhù (authorship) versus zhuó (contact/wearing/manifest)—is the primary diagnostic for selecting the correct lexical sense.