播

Phono-semantic compound:

手 (손 수) — semantic component, indicating manual action.

番 (날랠 파) — phonetic component, giving the sound bō / pa and connoting repetition or rotation.

Hence, 播 literally depicts the action of a hand scattering repeatedly, originally “to sow grain by hand.”

In Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「播，撒也。从手，番聲。」

“播 means to scatter; composed of 手 (hand) and phonetic 番.”

播種 (파종) — sowing; seeding

播送 (파송) — broadcasting; transmission

傳播 (전파) — to spread; to disseminate

播出 (파출) — to air or release (a program)

播音 (파음) — sound broadcast

播映 (파영) — television broadcast

播撒 (파살) — to scatter widely

Kangxi Dictionary (康熙字典 vol. 499):

「播，散也，布也。」

“播 means to scatter or to spread.”

In agricultural literature of the Zhou and Han periods, 播 symbolized the harmony between human labor and seasonal order — sowing at the proper time ensured Heaven’s blessing.

Book of Odes (詩經 · 小雅 · 信南山):

「播厥百穀。」

“He sows all his hundred grains” — the earliest attested agricultural sense of 播.

In Confucian ethics, 播德於民 (“to sow virtue among the people”) conveys the ruler’s moral influence radiating outward, akin to sowing good seed.

Zuo Commentary (左傳 · 昭公二十年):

「播其德於四方。」

“He spread his virtue to the four quarters” — figurative usage, “to disseminate virtue.”

Han Feizi (韓非子 · 顯學篇):

「播言以亂法。」

“He scattered words to confuse the law” — 播 here means “to spread rumors or speech.”

In modern Chinese and Korean, 播 retains both the agrarian and technological senses — from sowing fields to broadcasting waves — embodying the enduring metaphor of spreading life or knowledge.

From ancient farmlands to modern airwaves, 播 has come to represent the universal human act of dissemination — the gentle yet powerful gesture of extending life, truth, or voice outward into the world.