Broom character

帚 names a broom. Early Chinese forms depict the cleaning tool. The earliest surviving examples appear in oracle-bone writing—early Chinese inscriptions on bones and shells—followed by bronze inscriptions.

In oracle-bone writing, 帚 also stood for 婦, a character meaning “woman” or “wife.” A later form of 婦 added 女, the component for “woman,” to make that reading explicit. This is a historical use; a bare 帚 is not an everyday modern Chinese word for “woman.”

The traditional Chinese character 掃 joins 帚 with a hand component to mean “sweep”; simplified Chinese writes the same word as 扫.

Why do 帚 and 箒 look different?

箒 adds the bamboo component 竹 and is a later variant of 帚. The two forms name the same basic tool.

In Japanese, the broom word ほうき is commonly written 箒, and 帚 is listed as a related form. Chinese compounds use 帚 in words such as 掃帚.

What does 帚 mean in a message?

A bare 帚 names a broom; a compound tells you more. On its own, it identifies the broom character; the surrounding word supplies the intended use.

In modern Chinese, 掃帚 means “broom.” 箕帚 literally pairs a broom and dustpan; in classical Chinese it can also refer to housework or a wife’s role. That older wife-related sense can sound dated outside a historical quotation or language-study context.