Character 緫

It is an old variant of 總 with separate historical silk senses.

One historical entry uses 緫 as a counter for silk: a line in the Book of Songs, an early Chinese poetry collection, counts five 緫 of white silk. Another dictionary glosses it as blue-green silk fabric. These are separate entries, not one dependable modern meaning.

A Chinese Ministry of Education variant dictionary records 緫 as a variant of 總. It cites 說文解字, an early Chinese character dictionary, glossing 總 as “to gather or bundle”; 糸 is the thread element on the left. Later senses in this character family include “all” and “overall.”

Is 緫 a typo when someone sends it?

It is a real variant, but rarely the modern standard.

Modern Chinese uses 總 in traditional writing and 总 in simplified writing; modern Japanese uses 総. If a message contains 緫 alone, it may preserve a source’s spelling or be a mistaken substitute. Keep it when transcribing an exact source; when editing ordinary prose, follow the standard form for that language.