Upper-left indexing radical 歹 — depicts a stripped, weathered bone, the visible remains after death. The bone radical anchors 死 in the family of mortality and damage characters: 殃 calamity, 殉 die-for-cause, 残 remnant, 殊 different.
Lower-right 匕 — a person bent or kneeling, here drawn beside the bone to depict mourning beside the dead. Together the two pieces give the original picture: a living figure crouched next to bare bones, the universal scene of death.
