卩

병부 (兵符) refers to a wooden military tally used in ancient times. A wooden strip was inscribed with characters, then split into two halves: one kept by the king and the other by local officials.

When the king needed to mobilize troops, he sent a letter along with his half of the tally. The local official would match it with their half to verify authenticity before mobilizing the army.

This matching process gave rise to the term 부합 (符合), meaning “to correspond” or “to match.”

The purpose of carrying the tally was to ensure that the army would act only under the king’s command. If the local official mobilized troops without verifying the tally, it implied a private use without royal order, which was considered treason.

Regarding the origin of the character, Shuowen Jiezi describes it as a pictograph of the wooden military tally, but other ancient script studies suggest it may depict a kneeling person.