Origin

The left side of this character shows the water radical, which suggests movement or flow. The right component "斬" serves as a sound hint, telling you roughly how to pronounce the character—it doesn't add meaning here. When water flows or advances, it does so gradually and steadily, bit by bit, which is how the character came to mean "gradually" or "advancing little by little." The shape essentially captures the idea of water's patient, continuous progress.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).