About
袂 is a phono-semantic compound with the clothing radical 衤 on the left, indicating its semantic connection to garments, and 夬 on the right, providing the phonetic component "mèi". It originally denoted the sleeve of a traditional garment, the tubular section covering the arm. While it served as the standard term for "sleeve" in classical Chinese texts and poetry, its modern spoken use has been entirely superseded by 袖 (xiù). Today, 袂 appears primarily in formal literary contexts, historical descriptions of ancient attire, or poetic idioms related to parting or joining hands.
Etymology Hide
