Thread

糸 means thread, especially silk thread. Its ancestor appears in oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions, early Chinese writing on bones and bronze vessels. Traditionally, it pictures silk spun from a cocoon. A 2026 study proposes a cord or knot reading for some early forms; that view is contested.

Japanese 糸 is an everyday word for thread and also covers yarn, string, instrument strings, and fishing line. Modern Chinese generally uses 絲/丝 for silk and 線/线 for thread or line; 糸 is mainly a radical or historical form. Its traditional and simplified left-side radical forms are 糹 and 纟.