About
攵 (pū) is a right-side component form of the character 攴 (pū) and serves as an independent semantic radical. Etymologically, the graph is an ideogram that depicts a hand (又) holding a hitting implement, such as a whip or a staff, to represent the act of striking or beating. Though it virtually never appears as an independent word in modern Chinese, its importance is far-reaching: it stands as the semantic core of dozens of common characters relating to hand-held tools, physical labor, administration, educational discipline, and dynamic physical actions. This inheritance is evident in words like 教 (teach) and 救 (save).
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