Origin

This character combines the tiger radical 虍, which marks it as relating to animals or their qualities, with 呉, which is a sound hint showing roughly how the character should be pronounced. The tiger's association with danger and unpredictability likely influenced the meaning of "fear" or "uneasiness." Over time, the character expanded to include related ideas like concern, watchfulness, and expectation—all mental states connected to wariness. The specific shapes inside the tiger frame and the phonetic element together created a single character that captures this cluster of anxious or cautious meanings.

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