關於甲骨卜辭「□」字，學者說法繁多，本文一一檢討前人意見，歸結此字實為樹梢枝條柔弱之形，蓋即「梢」的本字，據此通讀卜辭「今（來）□」為「今（來）朝」，意為「今天（來日）的早晨」。並進而討論甲骨、金文「□」、「□」字，吳振武、陳劍等人以「□」為彤沙之「沙」，其根據甲骨□、□具有文例相同的現象，推論此字為「沙」得聲，因此通假為「殺」、「翦」等字，但本文認為此字為形聲字，從「□」得聲，即「梢」聲，讀為「翦」，屬宵元通轉，無需視為「沙」聲。文中亦針對前人「□（捷）」字考訂進行反思，認為此字與本文「□」字，在字形、音理確實存在關聯，但置於金文句例時則未可通，原因在於早期文獻的「捷」字屬不及物動詞，金文中則該通讀作「略」或「折」。文中並略述「翦」、「捷」、「截」於音理上存在關聯，但置於文獻時則需依照各字使用情形予以合適的解說。最後，文末並輔以甲骨、楚簡等出土文獻的相關材料以證成本文的論說。

Regarding the interpretations of the oracle bone character □, scholars have contributed significant theories. This article reviews previous interpretations and reaches the conclusion that this character represents the shape of a soft branch, the original form of shao (□, the top of a tree). In view of the close relation between the sound shao and the sound zhao, "jin □\" should be read as "jin zhao," meaning "today morning," and "lai □\" should be read as "lai zhao," meaning "tomorrow morning." Since the characters □ and □ in oracle bone script and bronze script have the same usages as the character □, Wu Zhen-wu and Chen Jian assert that □ stands for suo (沙, a kind of silk fabric) and □ should also be pronounced as suo and borrowed to mean sha (殺, to kill) and jian (翦, to cut). However, this article suggests that □ should not be pronounced as suo; it is a picto-phonetic character pronounced as shao because of the phonetic element □. It can be borrowed and pronounced as jian (翦) because in ancient times the rhymes in the shao (宵) group are often interchangeable with those in the yuan (元) group. Moreover, this article reexamines earlier interpretations of the character □ (捷 jie) and discovers an association between □ and □ in both the form and the sound. The reason why this phenomenon does not exist in the bronze script is that the word jie (捷) is used in early documents as an intransitive verb which should be read as lue (略) or zhe (折). Despite the association among the characters jian (翦), jie (捷), and zhe (截), they should be pronounced differently in accordance with the context. Finally, oracle bone script and unearthed documents such as the bamboo slips of Chu are appended as evidence.