Definitions

wéi curtain; women's apartment; tent

Etymology phono-semantic

curtain

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

帏 (wéi), traditional form 幃, refers to various hanging textiles such as curtains, bed hangings, room dividers, or tent drapes. It is a phono-semantic compound formed by the radical 巾 (jīn), indicating cloth or fabric items, and the phonetic component 韦 (wéi), traditional 韋. Although 韦 originally meant tanned leather, here it contributes only the pronunciation. Historically, the character has described privacy screens and bed curtains in sleeping chambers, as well as decorative hangings in noble households and temporary camps.

Etymology Hide

Bronze etymology image
Bronze Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern