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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

The traditional form 圖 depicts a pictograph enclosed within a border — an image made bounded, a territory made legible — capturing the original sense of a map or diagram worthy of study. Simplified to 图, the outer frame vanished but the meaning endured, now appearing in everyday compounds like 地图 (map), 图书馆 (library), and 图案 (pattern), where it still carries the echo of something carefully delineated.

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Shuowen

图. The oracle bone form of 图 depicts a map‑like picture: a rectangular area with internal lines representing roads or rivers, suggesting a plan or diagram; the outer part is a “口” (mouth) that later became the radical for enclosure, while the inner “啚” (bì) provides the phonetic value. The character thus originally meant “picture, map, plan,” and its visual layout reflects the act of delineating a region, which later extended to “to plan” or “to scheme.”

Pinyin

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Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin