卣

yǒu

⺊ + 囙

Definitions

yǒu wine container

Etymology

Pictograph of a type of wine vessel shaped like a gourd with a base on the bottom.

About

卣 is a pictograph of an ancient bronze ritual wine vessel shaped like a gourd with a base, a fitted lid, and a swinging handle. Used in early dynastic ceremonies for fermented beverages, its form directly depicts the vessel rather than combining semantic and phonetic elements. After these vessels ceased to be produced, the character remained in literary Chinese to describe such artifacts in antiquarian texts, archaeological catalogues, and classical poetry referencing libation rites.