Origin

This character combines the bamboo radical at the top with a component related to the body at the bottom. Bamboo is known for its strong, flexible fibers that run lengthwise through the stalk, making it a natural symbol for linear, stringy structures. By pairing this image of bamboo's fibrous nature with a body-related element, the character came to mean muscle, tendon, and sinew—the fibrous structures that give the body strength and structure. The same visual logic of "linear fiber" eventually extended to mean the "plot" or "thread" of a story, and more generally any kind of plan or scheme you can follow from beginning to end.

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