碁

A phono-semantic compound:

石 (“stone”) — semantic element, indicating stone playing pieces used in the game.

其 (gi, phonetic) — phonetic element.

Originally, 棊 (⿱木其, “wood + its phonetic”) was the standard character for board games (including Go, chess-like games).

Oracle bone form: ⿱木其 (“wooden board + phonetic 其”).

Shuowen Jiezi: listed as 棊 (small seal script, 其 above 木).

Later development: 碁 (with 石 instead of 木) appeared in the Southern & Northern Dynasties, emphasizing the stone pieces used in Go.

Thus, 碁 and 棋 are interchangeable, though 碁 is more specific to Go (바둑).

碁盤 (기반) — Go board

碁石 (기석) — Go stones

囲碁 (囲碁, 일본어 igo) — the game of Go

將碁 (장기) — Korean chess (variant use of 棋/碁)

棋碁 (기기) — chess and Go collectively

碁 is a later variant that highlights the stone (石) game pieces of Go, while 棋 kept the broader sense of “board games.”

In Japanese, 碁 is standard for “Go,” while 棋 appears in compounds like 将棋 (shōgi, Japanese chess).

In Korean, both 棋 and 碁 are recognized, but 碁 strongly evokes baduk (Go).

Assigned as Grade 2 “common-use” character alongside 棋.