巠 serves as the phonetic in characters such as 经, 颈, 茎, and 径.
Tips
history
巠 is the original (本字) form whose meaning was 'underground watercourse' or, in the loom sense, 'warp threads strung lengthwise on a frame'. The bottom 工-shape was originally a loom or frame; the three vertical strokes on top depict the warp threads passing through. Adding 纟 (silk radical) gave the modern 经 specifically for 'warp / classic / channel'.
usage
Encountered today only as a phonetic component, never as a standalone word. Look for it (in its slightly contracted left-side form) inside 经 (classic / pass through), 茎 (stem), 颈 (neck), 径 (path / diameter), 胫 (shinbone).
register
Archaic standalone - the niche literary reading 'jié' tied to 巠然 'lofty' is rare. The widely accepted reading for the phonetic role is jīng.
Components
pictograph
巠jīng
warp threads on a loom
Single graph. The top three short vertical strokes show warp threads suspended in a row; the middle 一 is a tension crossbar; the bottom 工 is the loom frame. Indexed under Kangxi #47 巛 (river / flow), aligning with the secondary 'underground watercourse' sense.
Filed under radical 巛 (chuān, #47) by convention. 巛 is not a separate component in 巠, so no strokes are highlighted.
