作者
zuòzhě · HSK 3
author
✍️ 作 = do/make + 者 = person; the person who makes (the work)
作 means to do, make, or compose; 者 is a noun suffix marking the person who does an action (compare 學者 scholar, 記者 reporter). Together: the maker — author, composer, writer.
作 — person radical 亻 + 乍
作 combines the person radical 亻 with 乍, which originally depicted a sudden action or making something. The character means 'to do, make, or create,' with 亻 indicating human activity and 乍 supplying the sound. Over time it broadened to cover works, deeds, and acting as something.
者 — old/elder 耂 + say 曰
Originally depicted sugarcane or a similar plant, but the form was reanalyzed as 耂 (old) over 曰 (say). It became a grammatical suffix meaning 'one who…' or 'the…thing,' nominalizing verbs and adjectives. Today 者 mainly marks agents or categories, as in 学者 'scholar' or 记者 'reporter.'