Origin

This character combines the idea of losing something with the mouth or voice. The upper part represents something lost or gone, while the lower part is the mouth radical, suggesting the expression of grief through words or sounds. When someone dies or something precious is lost, people naturally voice their sorrow and mourning, so the character came to mean both the act of missing something and the state of mourning. The shape captures how grief is both an internal loss and something expressed outwardly through the voice.