Origin

This character appears to combine two ideas: the character for "three" (三) placed above the character for "big" or "person" (大). The stacked arrangement suggests something being held up or lifted high—when you present or offer something respectfully, you raise it up toward another person or toward heaven. The sense of raising or supporting something precious eventually came to mean dedication, observance, and the formal presentation of offerings. The compound structure captures the physical gesture of giving or honoring something by elevating it.