Origin

This character combines "plant" (the grass radical on top) with "heart" or "core" (the character for heart below). The wick of a candle or lamp is the fibrous plant material at its center, so the character pictures this by joining the idea of plant material with the concept of a central core. The heart radical here represents the innermost part, the essence, which is what a wick is within a flame-producing object.

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