què

(crane), very high

Original meaning: 

crane

Depicts a crane's head on top of a bird (). Based on the original meaning "crane", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "very high".

Components
◎ iconic component

  Iconic component

  

characterless component

Depicts a crane's head.

隹 iconic component

  Iconic component

zhuī

  

bird

Evolution

隺 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
隺 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
隺 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

very high

 

què

highly ambitious

 

a bird flying up high

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (1 verified)

Sound component in 5 characters (2 verified)

Sources

許進雄《新編進階甲骨文字典: 甲骨文發現120周年紀念版》p.52