2indexing radical for characters whose outer hook envelops an inner element
Tips
usage
勹 is the proto-form of 包 (to wrap). As a radical it is the curving outer hook in 包, 勺, 勿, 勾, 匀 — a pictograph of arms or cloth folding around something.
history
Duan Yucai notes that once 包 took over the meaning, 勹 fell out of use as a free word and survives only as a radical name.
Radical
WrapKangxi #20
The wrapping radical. A structural slot — and a soft semantic hint — for characters whose outer hook encloses an inner element: 包, 勺, 勿, 句, 勾, 匀, 旬. Not used as an independent word in modern Chinese; the meaning of 'wrap' lives on through 包.
