The character 包含 is formed by combining two pictographic and ideographic components. The first character, 包, originally depicted an embryo wrapped within a womb, conveying the core idea of something enveloping or enclosing. The second, 含, is composed of the element 今 (which historically represented a cover) above the mouth 口, picturing something held within the mouth without being released. Together, they merge the visual concepts of wrapping and holding within to create the composite meaning of "to contain" or "to include".