Origin

This character combines two components that both relate to meat and animals. The left side is 月, which in this context represents meat or flesh (it originally came from a picture of meat). The right side is 豕, which is an older character for pig. Together, these parts create the meaning "pork"—the meat of a pig. Over time, the character also came to mean "pig" itself, since pork and the animal are so closely connected.