服 fú |
clothes ; obey |
衣服 yī fú |
服从 fú cóng | |
Graphically, a huge hand captures a man and makes him surrender. This is its original meaning, which still can be found in 降服, yield, and 使服从, make one abbey. Later the phonetic symbol 凡 was added. In bronze inscriptions, 凡 changed to 舟, boat, while in official script, it changed to 月, moon. |