Origin

This character combines sun (the square component on top) with the idea of things standing side by side or together (the bottom component). The sun shining on many things positioned close to each other suggests a group or multitude—hence the meanings of descendants (many people related together) and insect (creatures often found in groups). Over time, the visual of "sun plus togetherness" came to represent these collective or plural concepts.

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