Origin

This character combines two simple shapes to show the idea of support. The top component (十) represents something straight and upright, while the bottom component (又) shows a hand or fork-like shape. Together they depict a hand or forked support holding up something vertical — much like a branch being held in place or a prop supporting a weight. This visual idea of one thing holding up another naturally came to mean "support" or "sustain," and later extended to the related sense of "branch," since branches themselves are parts that extend from and depend on the main trunk.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).