棋

A phono-semantic compound:

木 (“wood”) — semantic element, indicating wooden game boards or pieces.

其 (gi, “its”) — phonetic element.

Earliest forms (oracle bone inscriptions) already show it as a phono-semantic compound, with 木 as semantic and 其 as phonetic.

In oracle bone and bronze script, form appears as ⿱木其 (木 above, 其 below).

In Shuowen Jiezi, listed in small seal script with 其 above 木.

棋盤 (기반) — chessboard, game board

棋子 (기자) — game piece

棋局 (기국) — game situation, match

棋手 (기수) — player

圍棋 (위기) — the game of Go

將棋 (장기, shōgi) — Japanese chess

象棋 (상기) — Chinese chess

棋 is the general character for board games, including Go, Chinese chess, Japanese shōgi, etc.

碁 (with 石) highlights Go specifically, since Go is played with stones.

棋/碁 distinction:

• 棋 - general “board game” (wooden boards and pieces)

• 碁 - later, specific to “Go,” focusing on stone pieces

Thus, in Chinese, 棋 covers chess-like games, 碁 narrows to Go.

In Japanese, 碁 is used for “Go” (囲碁), while 棋 appears in terms like 将棋.

In Korean, 바둑 can be written with either 棋 or 碁, but 碁 more strongly implies Go.

碁 (U+7881) — later variant emphasizing stone (石) pieces, specific to Go.

棊 (U+68CA) — older form, also used historically for “board game,” later replaced by 棋.