Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
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The kanji 払 (futsu, harau) is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji) formed from the semantic component 扌(hand radical) and the phonetic component 丿. Its original form in Small Seal Script (小篆) was 拂, which is still used in modern Chinese with the meaning "to brush away" or "to whisk". The character 拂 itself is composed of 扌(hand) and 弗 (futsu), with 弗 serving as both a phonetic marker and a semantic component meaning "to oppose" or "to correct". The core concept is the action of the hand (扌) brushing something away or rejecting it. Historically, the character's development shows a clear semantic shift. In ancient China, 拂/払 primarily meant to brush off, wipe clean, or repel, as in brushing dust from a surface. This evolved to include the metaphorical sense of "clearing" or "removing" an obligation, which naturally extended to the meaning of "paying" a debt or bill—essentially "brushing away" what one owes. The simplified form 払, which uses 丿 (a simple stroke suggesting a sweeping motion) in place of 弗, is a Japanese simplification (略字, ryakuji) known as 略字体, created during the post-WWII period of script reform to make the character easier to write. The character, in its classical form 拂, was introduced to Japan via Chinese texts, likely during the Nara and Heian periods as part of the broader cultural importation of the Chinese writing system. The semantic evolution to strongly emphasize "payment" is a notable development in Japanese usage. While Chinese retains 拂 primarily for physical actions like brushing, Japanese 払(harau) encompasses both the original meaning of "to sweep/brush away" and the specialized financial meaning of "to pay," demonstrating how a character's meaning can diverge and specialize after its adoption into a different linguistic culture.