What 筰 means
It means a bamboo-strip cord for pulling boats. The earliest use I could verify is Han-era: the Shiji records 筰都, a southwestern place name, while the early dictionary tradition defines 筰 as a bamboo cord.
Its practical sense appears in the Eastern Han Shiming: a bamboo-strip rope for pulling a boat and helping people cross water. 笮 is a recorded alternate form; 竹 marks bamboo and 作 supplies the sound.
Someone sent you 筰 alone — what now?
Ask for context; alone it decides nothing. A classical gloss also uses 筰 for a constricted or pressing sound in a bell passage. In Zhangzhou Hokkien, the same written form can mean “slap,” distinct from the rope gloss.
The surrounding words decide whether it is an object, a place name, a specialized classical term, or a dialect verb. Do not read a lone 筰 as everyday Chinese for rope.
Historical and specialist; in ordinary chat it reads as a rare written character, not casual shorthand.
If it arrives alone, ask for context instead of assuming it means rope.
What it means when someone sends it to you
4 readingsDon't confuse it with
2Questions people ask
1Why does 筰 appear as a square?
Likely a missing CJK font. Windows guidance dated 2025-02-27 notes missing language fonts can change display; install one or copy it from the palette above.
How to type 筰
筰\7B70Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.