Self-component. Oracle-bone
高 depicts a multi-tier watchtower — a roof (
亠), upper chamber (
口), canopy (
冖), and lower chamber with a doorway. The ten-stroke silhouette grounds 'high, tall' in a concrete picture of an ancient pavilion.
高 is itself Kangxi radical 189 and shares its tower-shape ancestry with
亭 pavilion and
京 capital.
