■ radical
yí
to doubt
How it’s built
Pictograph of a person holding onto a staff, looking to the side with his mouth open, doubtful of which direction to go. The 龰 (foot) component was added later to indicate movement, and the 子 component was added to hint at the sound.
口
iconic
mouth — Here depicts the head of a person with an open mouth looking to the side.
◎
iconic
characterless component — Depicts a person standing up holding onto a staff.
子
sound
son; child — The pronunciation of 子 was similar to 疑 in old Chinese, but they no longer sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes.
龰
meaning
(foot); stop — 龰 is a component form of 止.
Through the ages
Appears in
Characters that use 疑 as a component, most common first.