What ⼧ means
It marks the roof entry in radical references.
A radical is a component dictionaries use to group and find Han characters. ⼧ names the roof entry in that indexing system.
Is ⼧ the same as 宀?
No: 宀 is the written component; ⼧ is its separate index symbol.
Unicode maps ⼧ approximately to 宀, the ordinary roof component used inside Han characters. The two are distinct glyphs, so use ⼧ when the technical radical symbol itself is intended.
Where did 宀 come from?
Its early written history is known; its exact ancestor is unsettled.
A possible ancestor is a sign in late-Shang oracle-bone writing—inscriptions carved on bones and turtle shells for divination—around 1200 BCE. A Chinese historical-character lexicon records three proposed identifications for that sign: early forms of 穴 (cave), 宅 (dwelling), or 廬 (hut), without choosing among them.
The Shuowen Jiezi, an early Chinese character dictionary, describes 宀 as a deep house with roof coverings crossing over one another. Later dictionaries also preserve covering as a gloss. Radical systems use the roof component to classify and analyze characters, but the radical alone does not define every character that contains it.
Technical and archival; it points to radical indexing, Unicode text, or font design.
Do not substitute 宀 when the radical symbol itself is required.
Part of the collection
Don't confuse it with
2
Questions people ask
1Why does ⼧ 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
11
How to type or find ⼧
- Also called
- roof radical · radical 40
- Search it as
- ⼧ · 宀 · Chinese roof component · Unicode radical symbol
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
⼧\2F27Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.