維

It is a phono-semantic compound, composed of:

糸 (silk, thread) – semantic element, indicating threads, cords, or binding;

隹 (chwi/jui, “short-tailed bird”) – phonetic element.

Semantic range:

Original sense: to tie, to bind, to fasten (from the thread radical)

- warp thread, cord, boundary line – as in textiles or nets

- to maintain, preserve – e.g., 維持 (weichi, 유지하다, to maintain)

- particle (唯/惟 interchange) – in pre–Warring States texts, 維 was sometimes used as a copular particle “to be.”

維 originally depicted threads used to bind or fasten, giving rise to meanings of cords, warp threads, nets, and maintenance. Over time, it developed figurative uses of preserving, maintaining, and supporting order, and even grammatical usage as a copular particle in classical texts. Today it remains productive across East Asian languages in words relating to maintenance, fibers, and structure.

In Korean, 유 (維) is most often seen in compounds:

유지 (維持) – maintenance, preservation

섬유 (纖維) – fiber, textile

방유 (綱維) – guiding principle, threadlike order (literary)

규모유지 (規模維持) – maintaining scale, stability