Origin

This character is a simple picture of a claw or fingernail. The curved strokes at the top represent the pointed, curved shape of a claw or nail, while the vertical strokes below show how it connects to a finger or toe. The character's shape directly mirrors what a claw looks like in profile, which is why it came to mean nail, claw, or talon in Japanese.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.