彙
- collection;
- group;
- compilation;
- hedgehog;
Etymology
A phono-semantic compound composed of:
㣇 — semantic component meaning a hairy animal (long-haired creature);
胃 (simplified/abbreviated form) — phonetic component indicating the sound (휘 / huì).
In ancient forms, it depicted a hairy animal (hedgehog). Over time, the meaning shifted from the animal to the idea of things gathered together, like clustered spines.
Semantic development:
- hedgehog (spiny animal);
- cluster or grouping (from spines gathered together);
- collection or compilation;
- vocabulary or lexical set.
The shift from “hedgehog” to “collection” is based on the idea of many things gathered together (like spines).
Usage in Korean
어휘 (語彙) — vocabulary
휘집 (彙集) — collection; compilation
彙
무리
휘
muri
hwi
Kangxi radical:58, 彐 + 10
Strokes:13
Unicode:U+5F59
Cangjie input:
- 女一月田木 (VMBWD)
Composition:
- ⿳ 彑 冖 果