Definitions

ball

Etymology phono-semantic

foot

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character is formed with the foot radical 𧾷 and the phonetic element . It designated a leather ball used in the ancient game of Cuju, an early form of football played in historical China. The foot radical places the character within the domain of kicking and leg movements, while supplies the pronunciation. In later texts, was largely superseded by , which swaps the foot radical for the leather radical , emphasizing the ball's material rather than the physical action.