Origin

This character combines a walking radical on the left, which signals the character relates to paths or roads, with a sound component on the right that indicates the pronunciation. The left part, representing movement or travel, pulls in the meaning of "path" or "way," while the right component provides no semantic clue but historically sounded similar to the character's pronunciation. Over time, the character broadened from literal paths to figurative meanings like "method" or "diameter," all connected to the idea of a direct line or course.