丨 部首 2 — a vertical stroke; a line drawn straight down

Where the shape comes from

Not a word anyone speaks — it is the downward stroke itself, which the Shuowen glosses as movement up and down a line. It survives only as an index heading, and it takes characters built on a strong central axis: 中, 丰, 串.

汉字 filed under 丨

• 中zhōng (first tone, high and level) zhòng (fourth tone, falling)middle, centre; in, among, within; China (in 中国); (zhòng) to hit the mark, to be hit by4