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需xū

Character evolution

需

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Simplified · Today

Shuowen

需. This character pairs the rain radical 雨 with the phonetic element 而, creating a composite meaning to wait or to need. In its earliest forms it represented waiting for rain, the sky heavy with moisture but not yet fallen, and this sense of anticipation or requirement became its core semantic value in classical Chinese.

Pinyin

xū· HSK 2