Origin

The left component 木 means tree or wood, which makes sense because coffins are traditionally made from wood. The right component 官 is a sound hint that tells you roughly how to pronounce the character—it doesn't contribute to the meaning. Together, the character essentially means "wooden box for the dead," with the wood radical specifying that this is a wooden object and the sound component helping readers know how to say it.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).