Origin

This character combines the radical for "eye" (目) with a stroke (丿) that represents hair or a line above it. The shape pictures an eyebrow as something that sits above and frames the eye, so the two components together create the visual idea of an eyebrow—the hair-like line positioned above the eye. Over time, the character became the standard way to write the word for eyebrow in Japanese and Chinese.

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