Chinese Character Wiki
韋

wéi

(surround a city), tanned leather

Original meaning: 

surround a city

Pictograph of feet walking around city walls. The character is based on the original meaning "to surround". The "leather" meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components
止 iconic component

止  Iconic component

zhǐ

  

(foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

囗 sound,iconic component

囗  Sound Iconic component

wéi

  

surround

Depicts city walls.

止 iconic component

止  Iconic component

zhǐ

  

(foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Evolution

韋 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
韋 Bronze script Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
韋 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
韋 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
韋 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

韦 (韋) 

wéi

tanned leather; surname; KangXi radical number 178; soft leather

韦 (韋) 

Wéi

surname Wei

Most common words with 韋
Freq.
Word
Meaning

韦

surname Wei

韦德

Wade (name)

韦伯

Webb, Webber or Weber (name)

查韦斯

Chavez, Spanish name

津巴布韦

Zimbabwe

Component uses

Meaning component in 3 characters (1 verified)

韓 韌 韜

Sound component in 13 characters (4 verified)

圍 卫 衛 偉 違 緯 諱 葦 闈 瑋 韙 幃 禕

Iconic component in 1 character (1 verified)

衛

Remnant component in 1 character (1 verified)

卫

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[ɢ]ʷə[j]

hjw+j

wéi

leather

*[ɢ]ʷə[j]

hjw+j

wéi

go against


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 5.4301% of movies

1638th most common character in movies

1667th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

9

Simplified

韦

Unicode

U+97CB

Shuowen

“韋，相背也。从舛，囗聲。獸皮之韋可以束，枉戾相韋背，故借以為皮韋。，古文韋。”


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