Definitions

(literary) to scoop up; to ladle out; (literary) to draw toward oneself

Etymology phono-semantic

hand

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

(yì) denotes the action of ladling, scooping, or drawing liquids from a larger container using a vessel or dipping implement. It is a phono-semantic compound: the left-side hand radical (shǒu) signals a manual action, while the right-side component (yì) indicates the pronunciation. The character appears predominantly in formal writing, classical poetry, and historical texts, where it describes the graceful serving of wine, the drawing of well water, or metaphorical expressions of extracting and managing resources.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern