巴bā

巴 (bā) originally depicted a serpent or snake in oracle bone script — a long, coiling creature that the ancient scribes captured with a distinctive curved shape. From this visual origin came the meaning of "to cling to" or "to adhere," and as a phonetic component it appears in characters like 爸 (father), 爬 (to climb), and 吧 (a modal particle), though the snake imagery has faded into history.