It is a phonosemantic compound character, formed by combining:
刀 (칼 도) – the component indicating the meaning (“knife, to cut”), and
畐 (가득할 복) – the component indicating the sound.

Originally, this character meant “to cut” or “to divide” and was read as “복 (bok)”.
Over time, its meaning evolved and broadened to signify concepts like “to be second to,” “to be subordinate,” or “secondary.”

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

to arrive, to reach, to attain

to restrain, to control, to regulate

a written document, certificate

to stab, pierce, prick

engrave, carve, cut, harsh, severe

law, rule, regulation, standard, norm

lively, brisk, vigorous, to oppose, to offend

front, before, earlier, ahead, in the future

secondary, auxiliary


unicode: U+526F

to cut, divide, separate, apportion

to start, to begin, to wound, to originate, to create

to draw, to carve, to divide

severe, intense, extreme, theatrical plays, drama

sword, knife

medicine, preparation, to dose

merit, achievement, accomplishment, credit

to add, to join, to increase

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Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

副

Etymology

Words that derived from 副

Neighboring characters in the dictionary

References