Never used independently in modern Chinese. Its whole importance is as a phonetic root: it builds 构 (to construct), 沟 (ditch), 购 (to buy), 讲 (to speak) and 媾 — the gòu / gōu / jiǎng family.
memory
It pictures crossed logs interlocking, like a 井-frame stacked up. That 'pieces fitting together' image is exactly what its descendant 构 still means — to build a structure.
The lower half mirrors the upper lattice, doubling the crossed-timber image. The two stacked frames together depict an interlocking wooden structure — the core sense behind 构.
Filed under radical 冂 (jiōng, #13) by convention. 冂 is not a separate component in 冓, so no strokes are highlighted.
