Origin

The character combines two components that together express the idea of destruction. The top part, 几, represents a frame or structure, while the bottom part, 又, means "hand" or "arm." Together, these suggest the action of a hand breaking or damaging a solid object—the hand actively destroying the frame or structure. This combination of a tangible thing (the frame) being acted upon by force (the hand) naturally came to mean breaking, destroying, or being damaged. Over time, the meaning expanded to include being chipped, scratched, or the figurative sense of censuring or harming someone's reputation.

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