Origin

The character 貫 combines "mother" or a container symbol (毋) on top with "shell" or "treasure" (貝) below. The top component suggests something holding or enclosing, while the bottom represents valuable goods. Together, these parts evoke the idea of threading or stringing precious items together — like shells or beads on a cord passing through them. This sense of something continuous passing through or piercing led to the meaning "penetrate" or "pierce." Over time, it also came to mean a unit of weight used for stringing coins, which eventually became a standard measure of about 8 1/3 pounds.

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