裈, old Chinese clothing character

It is an old Chinese word for trousers or lower-body clothing. 裈 is the simplified form of traditional 褌. During the Han period, the Records of the Grand Historian, a history book, includes 犢鼻褌. The older Chinese dictionary Shuowen jiezi records 㡓 and gives 褌 as its clothing-component form. These records show related written forms rather than a sign created at one moment.

The garment fastened at the waist. Historical Chinese texts distinguish closed-crotch 褌 from 犢鼻褌, a shorter wrap. A study of carved Han tomb stones describes wearers preparing food in it, with the wrap keeping heat, sweat, and dirt off their other clothes. Han sources also associate the garment with hard labor and poverty; later anecdotes use it to mark disregard for decorum.

What does it mean if someone sends 裈 alone?

Read it as clothing vocabulary or a quotation. When 裈 appears alone, the surrounding Chinese text supplies the reason it was sent.

As of 2026, Japanese dictionaries list traditional 褌 for fundoshi, a loincloth, and for the apron worn by a sumo wrestler. In Chinese historical writing, 犢鼻褌 names the short wrap and can carry labor or poverty associations.