韋 Radical 178 — soft, tanned leather; to go around, against
wéi (second tone, rising)
soft, tanned leather; to go around, against
Radical 1789 strokes0 characters
Also written 韦 — the same radical in a different position inside the character.
Where the shape comes from
Feet marked walking around the outside of a bounded area — the picture behind its oldest sense, to go around, to encircle, which survives directly in the simplified 围, to surround. Going around easily slides into going against, giving 违, to violate, to contravene; and a separate, later use for soft, pliable tanned leather, once cut into cords to bind bamboo strips into a book, borrowed the same shape for its sound rather than its picture. It also lends its sound, without either sense, to 伟, great, grand.
characters filed under 韋
No published character on HSK Guide is filed under this radical yet. Character explorer.