What ⽽ means
It labels the 而 entry in a dictionary. A radical is a component or heading that helps a dictionary group characters. ⽽ is the separate Kangxi-radical symbol; 而 is the form used in words. They are related, but not interchangeable.
The related graph 而 has early forms in oracle-bone inscriptions—writing carved on animal bones—from the late Shang period. One form is disputed: some identify it as the different character 馘. Bronze forms also survive. One interpretation sees cheek hair. Later 而 served as a conjunction and a pronoun, while 耏 and 髵 kept the beard sense. Radical indexing runs through Shuowen Jiezi, an early character dictionary, Zihui (1615), and the Kangxi Dictionary (1716).
Part of the collection
Don't confuse it with
1
Related characters
2
Questions people ask
1Why does ⽽ show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
More like this
10
How to type or find ⽽
- Also called
- radical 126
- Search it as
- 而 · beard radical
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
⽽\2F7DCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.