詰

Core senses include formal interrogation (the official extraction of truth or legal accounting), adversarial challenge (cross-examination to expose contradictions), and questioning used as a vehicle for reproach or scolding.

Primarily functions as a transitive verb. Appears in later classical prose in compounds such as 詰問 (jíwèn).

Unlike 問, which is a neutral request for information, 詰 implies an adversarial or authoritative power dynamic between the speaker and the subject.

Simplified variant: 诘 (U+8BD8).

The phonetic component 吉 can appear as jú in other contexts, but is read jí when paired with the speech radical (言) to denote interrogation.

Avoid rendering this glyph as a simple "question." The choice of 詰 over 問 or 訊 signals that the interaction is an exercise of pressure or authority rather than a neutral exchange of information.