Origin

This character combines meat or food on the left side with an ear on the right. The ear represents listening or being attracted, while the meat represents food. Together, they suggest something that attracts or tempts—food that draws an animal's attention, which is why the character means bait or food used to lure prey. The same idea extends to anything tempting that catches your interest, like profit that attracts greed. Over time, the meaning broadened to refer to any kind of food or nourishment.

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