Most words with this radical are related to birds. "Wei" first appeared in Shang Dynasty Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Shang Dynasty inscriptions, and its ancient glyph was like a bird. In Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Shi is the general name of short-tailed birds, and most of the words with Shi as the signifier are related to birds.
the origin of "Wei" characters
pictographic characters. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's "Wei" in Shang Dynasty is a pictograph of a bird, with a head, a tail, a body and feathers, but the orientation of the head, the number of feathers, the presence or absence of claws, and the complexity and simplicity of strokes are not fixed. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, the glyph gradually became fixed. Generally, the head turned to the left, and no other strokes appeared on the left. Most of the feathers on the right were four, which were penetrated by a vertical pen that composed the belly of the bird.
Although new simplification and simplification appeared in the Warring States Period, they were all carried out on the basis of generally consistent glyphs since the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, so there was no great confusion. The small seal script of Shuowen Jiezi is basically the same as the regular and simple font of the previous generation. After the official change, the regular script became a mark character.
according to zhuī Wen, the original meaning of "Wei" is the general name of short-tailed birds or short-tailed birds. However, some birds from the pheasant are not short-tailed, such as pheasant.