鬲 Radical 193 — a three-legged cooking cauldron; a tripod vessel
lì (fourth tone, falling)
a three-legged cooking cauldron; a tripod vessel
Radical 19310 strokes0 characters
Where the shape comes from
A tripod cauldron with hollow, bulging legs, made this way so the fire’s heat could reach further into the food cooking inside — a distinctly practical piece of Bronze Age kitchenware. It sits beneath 虫 in 融, to melt, to blend, to fuse, the old picture of steam or heat rising like something alive out of the cauldron’s mouth as its contents merge into one.
characters filed under 鬲
No published character on HSK Guide is filed under this radical yet. Character explorer.