行

It is used to express actions like moving or proceeding and can also refer to a generation or order within a family lineage.

It is a pictogram representing a crossroads where four paths meet. Since it depicts a path that people travel, it carries the meaning of “to go” or “to walk,” from which the extended meanings “to move” and “to act” are derived. Therefore, characters that include 行 as a component generally imply movement.

In Chinese, the 行 radical has been merged into the 彳 radical.

Originally, the meaning “to go” was read as 행 (haeng), while meanings such as “row” or “store/shop” were read as 항 (hang). For example, words like 행렬 (matrix/row), 은행 (bank), and 양행 (foreign trade) were originally 항렬, 은항, 양항. However, except for terms like 안항 and 항렬, 항 mostly changed to 행, and 행렬 and 항렬 came to be used with different meanings.

It is placed between the ‘body’ components 彳 and 亍 to form Chinese characters. Specifically, various shapes are inserted between 彳 and 亍 to create characters.

Examples include:

街 (street)

衢 (crossroads)

術 (skill/art)

衍 (expand)

衛 (protect)

衝 (pierce)