Origin

This character combines two components to express the idea of wrongdoing. The top part, a cage-like grid, represents confinement or enclosure — suggesting something trapped or bound. Below it sits a component meaning "not right" or "wrong." Together, these parts create the sense of something wrong that deserves to be confined or punished, which is how the character came to mean guilt, sin, or crime. The visual pairing of "wrong" within a "cage" effectively conveys the concept of fault or blame.

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