總
- all, to gather, to put together, to oversee, to sum up;
- to command, to supervise;
Etymology
It is a phono-semantic compound, composed of:
糸 (fine thread, silk) – semantic element, indicating connection, gathering, combining.
悤 (chong, “busy, hasty”) – phonetic element.
The imagery suggests threads gathered and tied together, extended metaphorically to mean “to collect, to unify, to lead, to summarize.”
Usage in Korean
In Korean, 총 (總) is widely used in compounds relating to gathering, unification, or leadership:
총리 (總理) – prime minister
총합 (總合) – total, sum
총괄 (總括) – overall, comprehensive, to take charge of
총독 (總督) – governor-general
총장 (總長) – president (of a university, or head of an institution)
대총 (大總) – general commander (archaic)
Alternative forms
𦀙 (U+26019) – used as the standard form in Hong Kong and Macau.
摠 (U+6460) – variant listed in the Korean Hanja Standard (어문회 준특급); historically used in compounds such as 쌍성총관부 (雙城摠管府, Ssangseong Chonggwanbu).
- 女火竹田心 (VFHWP)
- ⿰ 糹 悤