Origin

This character combines the idea of "words" or "speech" (the left component, which looks like a mouth with lines representing words) with "divination" or "fortune-telling" (the right component, which originally depicted a bone used in divination). Together they suggest an announcement or message of significant importance—specifically news about someone's death. The "divination" element hints at the grave nature of the message, making this character mean "obituary" or "death notice."