樹

Phono-semantic compound:

木 (tree, wood) – semantic element, indicating something related to trees or wood.

尌 (to stop/stand) – phonetic element, also linked to the idea of standing upright.

Original form was 尌, depicted in oracle bone script as 木 (tree) plus 又 (hand), showing the act of planting or setting up a tree.

In bronze script, 木 was simplified into 屮, with 豆 (vessel) added as a phonetic.

From the Spring and Autumn period onward, 尌 came to be read mainly as “tree.” To clarify meaning, 木 was added, producing 樹.

To preserve the earlier meaning “to set up, erect,” the derivative 豎 (to set upright) was created, still with 豆 as phonetic.

Semantic range:

- tree, plant;

- to plant, to grow;

- to set up, to erect;

- to establish (as in ideas, institutions, virtues).

수목 (樹木) – trees, woods

가로수 (街路樹) – roadside trees

식수 (植樹) – tree planting

인격수양 (人格樹養) – cultivation of character

수립 (樹立) – establishment (of a system, principle, or government)

Historical phonetic readings shifted from shangsheng (“stand, erect”) toward qisheng (“tree”), leading to modern meaning “tree.”