部首 竹
The radical 竹 is commonly known as "竹字头" (zhú zì tóu). This radical is always placed on the top of a character. Chinese characters with this radical are usually related to bamboo or bamboo made products.“竹”是象形字。“竹”字的古代字形像两片竹叶，本义是竹子。
📘 The character 竹 is a Pictograph Character. Its oracle bone script depicts two pieces of bamboo leaves. 竹 means bamboo.
义符 竹 1
Using "竹" as a meaning component, the following characters refer to writing tools, books, documents, and other bamboo made items."笔" has two meaning components, "毛" and "竹". As the components suggest, the tube of the brush is typically made of bamboo, while the brush head is made with fine hair.
The sound component of "简" is "间". The meaning component "竹" indicates that "简" is made of bamboo. In ancient China, Bamboo slips were one of the main materials for writing documents before the invention of paper.
The four characters, "篇, 策, 簿, 籍", refer to different kinds of written texts or documents.
"签,符,筹" refer to small bamboo pieces with written information on them.
The abacus (算盘) is an ancient Chinese calculator.
"答" originally meant "to repair fences with bamboo".
"等" originally meant "orderly bamboo slips".
义符 竹 2
The characters displayed on this page use "竹" as their meaning component. Some of them are related to "bamboo products or construction". The other characters derive their meanings based on shape of bamboos, such as: 笨,笑 and 簇.The character "夭" represents the pronunciation of 笑： xiao -- yao. The component "竹" is used to express the wind bending the bamboo, just like someone bending over with laughter.