罪

According to the Shuowen Jiezi (説文解字 shuōwén jiězì), it is classified as a compound ideogram. Its original meaning was “a bamboo net for catching fish.” Beginning in the Qin dynasty, however, 罪 came to replace the older character 辠 (U+8FA0, “fault, crime”).

The reason, as transmitted in Shuowen Jiezi Zhu (설문해자주), is that the First Emperor of Qin disliked that 辠 visually resembled 皇 (huang, emperor). Since the two shared the same pronunciation, the substitute character 罪 was adopted instead.

Historically:

辠 is attested in bronze inscriptions (金文 jinwen).

罪 appears later, from the small Seal Script (小篆) onward, thus postdating 辠.

辠 was originally formed from 自 (nose, pictograph) + 辛 (punishment, torture instrument), symbolizing the cruel ancient punishment of cutting off a criminal’s nose.

Over time, 罪 itself absorbed both the sense of “fault, crime” and the additional meaning “punishment.” This dual meaning is reflected in expressions such as “죄 받다” (“to receive punishment for sin”), found in 19th–20th century Korean Bible translations.

Common compounds:

범죄 (犯罪) – crime, offense

사죄 (謝罪) – apology, asking forgiveness

원죄 (原罪) – original sin (theological)

죄악 (罪惡) – sin, evil deed

무죄 (無罪) – innocence, not guilty

Although classified as an approved name character (인명용 한자), its strongly negative meaning means it is almost never used in actual given names.