弟

The bow radical supplies the central curving body, indexing the character. Originally 弟 pictured cord wound in order around a stake — the radical 弓 preserves that bound-cord silhouette. The 'order' meaning later shifted to 'younger brother' (next in birth order).

Two splayed strokes function as an abstract opening cap above the bow-and-cord body below — a positional marker signalling the start of the winding. Historically the loose ends of the cord wound around the central shaft in the spiral-binding pictograph that gave 弟 its original meaning of sequence.

Two final strokes wrap around and finish the bound-cord pictograph below the 弓 core. They have fused into a non-decomposable tail residue that completes the spiral-binding silhouette, no longer separable into independent units.