卫

See also: 衛, 衞, 𠀄, ヱ, and 고

卫 U+536B, 卫 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-536B ← 卪 [U+536A] CJK Unified Ideographs 卬 → [U+536C]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

卫 (Kangxi radical 26, 卩+1, 3 strokes, cangjie input 尸中一 (SLM), four-corner 1710₂, composition ⿻𠃌丄 or ⿱𰆊一)

Derived characters

• 𫁱

Related characters

• 衛 (Traditional form of 卫, preferred form in Taiwan)
• 衞 (Orthodox form in Kangxi dictionary, preferred form in Hong Kong)
• 𠀄 (Unorthodox variant of 衛 found in Zhongwen Da Cidian 《中文大辭典》)

References

• KangXi: not present, would follow page 76, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 50, character 4
• Unihan data for U+536B

Chinese

Glyph origin

This character is not known to have existed prior to the simplification of Chinese characters by the People's Republic of China in 1956.

The simplification of 衛／卫 (wèi) to 卫 (wèi) may have been influenced by the Japanese katakana ヱ (we), compare the Japanese ryakuji ⿰彳ヱ.

In Zhongwen Da Cidian 《中文大辭典》, a dictionary based on the Japanese Dai Kan-Wa Jiten and published in Taiwan from 1962 to 1968, 𠀄 (wèi), a character which is visually similar to 卫 (wèi) (乛 on top instead of 𠃌 (gǔn)), is recorded as an unorthodox variant of 衛／卫 (wèi).

Another theory is that 卫 (wèi) is a variant of 𫝀 (wǔ), which is the top component of 韋／韦 (wéi) in the middle of 衛／卫 (wèi).

Definitions

For pronunciation and definitions of 卫 – see 衛 (“to guard; to protect; to defend; security guard; etc.”). (This character, 卫, is the simplified form of 衛.)

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.