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盍

hé
adverb

Meanings

  1. 1 why not; to cover (classical)

Examples

盍往观之？
Hé wǎng guān zhī?
Why not go and have a look yourself?

Tips

history
盍 is a classical fusion of 何 ('why') and 不 ('not'), meaning 'why not'. It is not used independently in modern Chinese, but it lives on as the phonetic and 'cover' element in 盖 (lid / to cover) and 嗑 (to crack seeds with the teeth).

Components

radical
皿 mǐn
dish; vessel
The 'vessel' below is what gets covered; it is the indexing radical for 盍.
semantic
去 qù
lid / covering element
The top is a stylized 'cover' placed over the vessel below, giving 盍 its literal 'to cover' sense.

Stroke Order

盍 hé